



'V, * o « ' o.^ 









•^ 



tDf^isky insurrection 
Q €cncral Vkw 



BY RICHARD T. WILEY 

Author of "Sim Greene and Tom the Tinker's Men," '-History of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church of Elizabeth, Pa.," etc. 



ELIZABETH, PA. 

Herald Printing House 

1912 



r- 



PRICES 

The prices of this wori< are: 

hi paper binding, per copy, . . . 30 cent^ 
In flexible cloth, per copy, .... 50 cents 



Copyrlghteil, 1912, by K, T. Wiley 



£CI.A305813 



FOREWORD. 



;-j>^ By request of the Washington County Historical Society, a sketcll 
Ojf;;'the Whisky Insurrection in Southwestern Pennsylvania, in the last 
decade of the Eighteenth Century, was prepared, and was read May 4, 
1908, at a meeting of that body at Washington, Pa. Subsequently, by 
invitation, the greater portion of it was given by the writer at a meei- 
ing of the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania, at Pittsburg. 
From time to tirbe requests have been received for its publication in 
convenient form, and it is now given to the public in response to these 
requests. R. T. W. 

Elizabeth, Pa.. February, 1912. 



The Whisky Insurrection 



INTRODUCTORY. 

Our point of view has much to do with our estimate of 
things and events, as we look upon them. Sometimes too close 
proximity gives us an exaggerated view of that upon which we 
look, even to the shutting out of related things of vastly greater 
importance. A silver dime, held close to the eyeball, is suffi- 
cient to blot out of view the sky with its vista of unnumbered 
worlds. But, on the other hand, wnth some objects of com- 
manding importance, a distant view is necessary to gain an ade- 
quate perception of them. A mountain range, seen from its 
base, may appear to be comparatively insignificant, and it is 
only when viewed from distant heights that its noble propor- 
tions are appreciated. 

The Whisky Insurrection, 'in the southwestern counties of 
Pennsylvania, in the last decade of the Eighteenth (^entury, fig- 
ures as an obscure chapter in the history of our nation. Indeed, 
most of the writers of our national chronicles dismiss it with a 
few brief paragraphs, and as a result the average student has 
but a hazy general notion of it. Even the most of those who 
live amid the scenes which formed the principal theater of its 
action are found to be far from well posted concerning it. For 
.years the present writer has been interested in this subject, 
and has pursued it along every line open to him. Everything 
written concerning it, so far as could be learned of, has been 
procured and read. Its principal scenes have been visited, in- 
spected and studied, and many of the descendants of its chief 
acT;ors have been interviewed. It has been looked upon at clo.se 
range, as to its' scenes of action, and, necessarily, from the em- 
inences of distance in point of time. The result of all this has 



6 The Whisky Insurrection 

_beeii to beget a belief, which has grown into a firm convictioir, 
that its importance as a national event is not adequately appre- 
ciated. 

It was a distinct and serious menace to the integrity and 
even the existence of the young republic. Though it ended ni 
fiasco, the potentialities of disunion and destruction existed in 
it. Given a more sincere, unselfish, capab-le and fearless leader- 
ship, it must have involved the country in a bloody civil war, 
which in its exhausted and impoverished condition so soon after 
the long Revolutionary struggle, would have had an ending 
which might easily have been most disastrous. The older and 
more settled part of the country Avas east of the Appalachian 
mountain system. There was the seat of government and the 
scene of most activities in commerce and manufacture. These 
counties about the headwaters of the Ohio were isolated from 
it. The lurking savage had practically undisputed possession 
of the great Ohio wilderness and to the Avestward of it for un- 
known distances. Great Britain maintained a firm foothold 
along the Canadian border on the north and northwest, and 
Spain was in possession of the mouth of the IMississippi. These 
would have a natural interest in seeing the disintegration of 
the young nation which was giving promise of pushing its set- 
tlements westward rapidly. 

Washington recognized the peril, and met it by organizing 
and putting in the field an army greater and much better 
equipped than the one he commanded at Yorktowm when Corn- 
wallis handed him his sword, and by the expenditure of nearly 
a million dollars — a vast sum for that time and for the country 
in the state of its finances then. This action was not due to any 
sudden panic on the part of the great general and president, 
who for three years had been earnestly and patiently trying to 
compose the differences without resort to force, but came from 
his appreciation, with all the facts before him, that it was a 
grave crisis, requiring heroic treatment. No one who looks 
carefully at all the facts can well escape the conviction that the 
ship of state was among the breakers which had well nigh 
wrecked it. 

DEFIANCE OF THE GOVERNMENT. 

This was the first serious revolt against the power and 



The Whisky InsxirrectioTi 7 

authority of the federal government. The rebellion in Massa- 
chusetts, led by Captain Shays, a few years before, of the com- 
mon people against the assumed domination of a landed aristoc- 
racy, never got completely beyond the power of the state au- 
thorities to handle, and federal interference was not invoked. 
The "Whisky Insurrection was a bold defiance of and direct 
assault upon the federal government. This we must all allow, 
even though we give all weight to the grievances, real or ap- 
parent, of the people of the region at that time. Its crushing 
out gave great prestige to the young republic and its power for 
self-government, showing that it was able to deal with serious 
internal dissensions. The civilized world beheld and took no- 
tice, and its respect for the experiment in self-government then 
being worked out was immeasurably increased. It also gave 
added impulse to the spirit of federalism among our own peo- 
ple. In the debates of the constitutional convention, then in the 
recent past, there was a well defined cleavige between those 
who favored a strong central governmenc and those who stood 
for the largest measure of sovereignty on the part of the several 
states, bound together in a loose confederacy for common pro- 
tection and advantage. Even then the seeds were sprouting 
from Avhich grew the plant bearing the vexed questions of 
state versus federal sovereignty — only rooted out, in a later 
generation, after an effusion of rivers of blood and the expend- 
' ing of almost fabulous treasure. 

Within the limits of a paper such as this, it is out of the 
question to go into a detailed history of the struggle to which it 
refers, nor can there be an exhaustive study of the causes lead- 
ing up to it. But a look at these causes is necessary to an un- 
derstanding even of the Insurrection in a general view. This 
will be attempted, along with the direction of attention to some 
things Avl ieh have particularly impressed the author of these 
lines in his study of the subject. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

The stiident in search of the truth at once finds himself in 
difficulties in the earliest bibliography of the Insurrection. 
The first book written concerning it was by Hugh H. Bracken- 
ridge afterwards a Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsyl- 



5 The Whisky Instirrection 

vania. His "Incidents of the Western Insurrection^' was 
published in Philadelphia a year after the culmination of the 
trouble, and its principal object was to explain and justify 
some actions of his in connection with it, which at the time 
looked like acquiescence if not participation in acts for which 
the insurgents were called to account. While it set forth a 
strong claim for his fealty to the government, it was written^ 
as might naturally be expected, in view of the time and place^ 
so as to give the least offense to those who had been openly 
aligned with the opposition to the collection of the excise, and 
with the largest measure of excuse for their stand and action, 
consistent with the contention he was making for himself. 
The author was an attorney, dependant on the people of the 
West for support, and was actively in politics in this region. 
A careful view of the whole situation seems to warrant the 
belief that Judge Brackenridge deported himself with rare 
tact in a most trying situation, and performed valuable service- 
in averting worse disaster than came upon the region. But 
he was not in the best situation immediately afterwards t:* 
write unbiassed history. 

William Findley wrote his history of the Insurrection an<l 
published it the year after the appearance of Brackenridge 's. 
It, too, has for its object the clearing of the writer's skirts* 
from the strong imputation that he aided and abetted resist- 
ance to the enforcement of the excise law. It shows some 
ability, but lacks the literary finish of the earlier work, and 
was written with evident bias in favor of the western people 
in their contention. Findley was a politician, was bitterly 
opposed to the policies of the then existing administration, and 
at that time had special interest in holding the favor of the 
western people. These two books were for years the accepted 
histories of the event, and much that has since been written 
on the subject has been colored more or less by them. 

A feud existed between the Brackenridge and Neville 
families at the time of the Insurrection, and it was perpetuated 
in succeeding generations, with the result of adding to the 
literature on the subject in hand. Neville B. Craig was a grand- 
son of Gen. John Neville, Inspector of Excise in the Fourth 
Survey of Pennsylvania,, which comprised the counties of Alb- 



The Whisky Insurrection 9 

gheny, Washington, Fayette, Westmoreland, and the portion of 
Bedford lying west of the Allegheny mountain ridge. This last 
comprised almost the present Somerset county, and Washington 
county at that time included the present Greene county. Mr. 
Craig was a local historian of note, and near the middle of the 
last century published a history of Pittsburg. In this he gave 
an account in some detail of the Whisky Insurrection, and was 
particularly severe in his denunciation and characterization of 
II. H. Brackenridge, then long dead. This brought forth a pro- 
test from Judge H. M. Brackenridge, a son of the dead jurist, 
and a newspaper controversy of much bitterness raged for some 
time. The final result was that the younger Brackenridge pub- 
lished a book under the title of "History of the Western Insur- 
rection," which included most of what had been in his father's 
earlier work, and much in addition, its chief object being to de- 
fend his memory. Craig came back with a book in answer. 
Both of these are written in considerable bitterness, which de- 
tracts to some extent from their value. as history. 

The Pennsylvania State Archives devote one entire volume 
to this subject. It is very complete in its preservation of the 
court records, military orders and other papers pertaining to 
the matter, but in its narrative portions the influence of the 
earliest published accounts are plainly evident, and it is a labor- 
ed effort to marshal all that could be brought forward in palli- 
ating the course of those who opposed the excise. Rev. Dr. 
James Carnahan, a native of Washington county, and at the 
time of the Insurrection a student in Jefferson College at Can- 
onsburg, who became president of Princeton University, made 
an address before the New Jersey Historical Society, based 
largely on his own recollections of the Insurrection, which was 
published and is a valuable contribution to its literature. 
Creigh's and Crumrine's histories of Washington county have 
good accounts of it and supply many interesting facts, the lat- 
ter in particular being full and illuminative. Histories of the 
other counties also touch on it, and a number of other contribu- 
tions to the history of the event have been made. One, a paper 
prepared by Alexander Hamilton, is the earliest and fullest ac- 
count from the Federalist side. Naturally it makes out the 
strongest case possible for the administration, and magnifies 



iO The Whisky Insurrection 

some features of opposition which do not seem important at tlii:^ 
distance. Two romances have been writteli with the Insurrec- 
tion as the chief motive. 

' Recently the Carnegie Library at Pittsburg has been en- 
gaged, with good results, in the collection, so far as possible, of 
everything obtainable that has been Avritten on this subject, and 
the books are properly classified, indexed and accessible in the 
reference department of that magnificent institution. The 
library of the Pennsylvania Historical Society at Philadelphia 
also has a fine collection of books, pamphlets and manuscripts 
on this subject, the result of many years of effort. So much for 
the bibliography of the "Whisky Insurrection. 
POLITICS HAD ITS PART. 

Politics of the day entered more largely into it than gen- 
erally appears to the casual reader. Washington, though cho- 
sea to the presidency without opposition, was cast in a mould 
which naturally inclined him to favor a strong central govern- 
ment. His military training and discipline served to accentu- 
ate this bent in him^ and it is not surprising to find him gath- 
ering about him in his official family of advisers a number ot 
those who were like minded. Of these, Alexander Hamilton. 
Secretary of the Treasury, was a leading spirit, and his theories 
had much to do in shaping the policies of "Washington's admin- 
istration, especially along financial lines. Pennsylvania at that 
time was controlled by the Republican or Anti-Federal party, 
the predecessor of the present Democratic party, and was thus, 
to some extent, at variance with the administration. Especially 
in the portions west of the mountains was the Anti-Federalist 
sentiment strong, and "William Findley, of "Westmoreland coun- 
ty, the candidate of that party, previously mentioned as ar- 
author, was one of the representatives of this section elected to 
the lower house of the Second Congress. 

In tracing the causes of this remarkable uprising, i!' one 
would arrive at the whole truth, various contributary influences 
must be considered, some of them racial and hereditary, others 
due to local conditions and circumstanf^s. Before going into 
these underlying, causes, it were well to take a view of the im- 
mediate occasion of the opposition to the government. 



The Whisky Insurrection ] 1 

GENERAL CONDITIONS. 

The end of the war for independence found the younjj na- 
tion staggering under a great load of debt and hosts of its pen- 
pie impoverished. The country's credit had been strained to 
the breaking point, and its experiment of self-government was 
looked upon as very doubtful in its outcome by the people ol" 
most of the nations of earth. Its credit being practically gone, 
its ability 1o raise money by promises to pay, in the issiiaii? of 
script currency, was exhausted. The government script issued 
during the war was then so greatly depreciated that it was 
practically worthless. Some means had to be devised ?-^r rais- 
ing money to meet the indebtedness of the country and fo carry 
on its government. 

]\Ir. Hamilton's proposition was to levy duties on imports 
and an excise on certain productions of the country, prominent 
among which he placed distilled spirits. The latter part of the 
])lan met with strong opposition, but it prevailed, and Congress, 
in ]\rarch. 1791, passed the act which would put his plai- in op- 
eration. While the matter was under consideration the Penn- 
sylvania Leeri'^la+nre passed, by a vote of more than three to 
one, a resolnti:^n in opposition to the proposed action oC Con- 
gress, and instructing the representatives of the state to vote 
against the measure. The act was so drawn that it placed a spe- 
cific tax on each still, according to its capacity, and on its pro- 
duct, payable in specie or its equivalent. 

Many of the residents of the western country wore of 
Scotch-Irish birth or extraction, and they brought v/ith them 
from across the sea a deep-seated prejudice against excise laws, 
those who enacted them and the agents in their enforecmenT. 
But they were not alone in this antipathy to the excise, nor 
would it seem, as will be pointed out later, that they were the 
all-controlling force that it has been the custom to regard them 
in most accounts of the Insurrection that have been writttjii. 
Such laws had always been unpopular among the small farmers 
of all parts of Great Britain, and indeed of other European 
countries as well. Collection of such taxes in the old country 
had often been attended with cruel exactions and indignities, 
and with violations of the sacredness of the domicile. As one 



12 The Whisky rnsurrection 

writer puts it : "Taxation had in Europe comfi to be an absolute^ 
spoliation of all who had no voice in the affairs of the state."" 

Excise laws had always been unpopular in Pennsjdvania, 
and had never been successfully enforced in the counties west 
of the mountains. While this was the first such measure inaug- 
arated by the national government, there had been enactments 
of this character both under the provincial and the state gL)v- 
ernments before. These were all short-lived, soon either being 
repealed or becoming non-effective. There was at the time of 
the passag'e by Congress of Hamilton's act a Pennsylvania state 
excise law, but it was practically a dead letter. Efforts to en- 
force it in the western country a few years before had resulted 
in the heaping' of indignities on the collector, s'o that he finally 
had to flee from the region in fear for his life. In the agitation 
over the national laAv the state act was repealed. 
FOREIGN INFLUENCE. 

The French Revolution, which broke out soon after the be- 
ginning of Washington's first administration, made a profound, 
impression on thought in America, and this was reflected in th-:' 
politics of the time. While its excesses shocked the majority „ 
there were many, still wrought up over the reaction from the 
monarchical oppressions enforced on the attention of the world 
by the American Revolution, then in the recent past, who were 
ready to lend a wnlling ear to even the most radical and violent 
departure from the long existing forms of old-world govern- 
ment. That this influence was dominant in the outbreaks ana 
excesses under consideration must become apparent to one who 
closely studies the whole system. The Anti-Federalists, 
restive under any restraints by the national government, espe- 
cially when directed against an opposing state policy, claimed 
that the Rights of Man, as enunciated by the revolutionists 
across the water, were violated by the enactment and enforcv:- 
ment of an excise law repugnant to the people of Pennsylvania. 
Later, when Citizen Genet came as the minister of the French 
republic to the United States, with the announcement of a dec- 
laration of war by France against Great Britain, and demand- 
ing that our government become the ally of France, the Anti- 
Federalists seized the occasion to rally about him and applaud 



The "Whisky Insurrection 1 3 

the sentiment. They then began to call th«niSelv6s Denlocratic^ 
Kepublicans, while some took the name of Democrats. Secret so- 
cieties were organized to promulgate their doctrine^ and thes'S 
or organizations patterned largely after them, played an impor 
tant part in the Insurrection, as will be seen later. 

Genet, mistaking these clamors for the sentiment of th-.^ 
American people generally, went further, and took steps for or^ 
ganizing enterprises which would speedily have etfibroiled the 
United States in war with Great Britain. This greatly embar- 
rassed Washington and his cabinet, and they issued a proclama^ 
tion of neutrality in the conflict between France and Great Brit- 
ain and warning American citizens not to do anything inconsist- 
ent with this neutrality. At the request of AVashington, Genet 
was recalled, but seeds were sown which bore their certain fruit. 
While it would be unfair to say that the excesses of the Whisky 
Insurrection were due solely to the dissemination of these doc- 
trines at this time, it is impossible to escape the conviction that 
it was a very important contributing cause. 

CHARACTER OF INHABITANTS. 

In looking for the occasions of this outbreak, it will not do 
to omit some study of the general character of the people en- 
gaged in it. Even at that early day, churches of various Pro- 
testant denominations had been planted in the western country 
and were well supported. But it must not be supposed that all' 
of the people were good and law-abiding. Court records of the 
time show that the crimes and misdemeanors which make up so' 
deplorably large a part of the life of to-day were fully as prev- 
alent then, and it is in evidence and well supported in various' 
ways, that a very rough class of people had large representation 
here at that time. The close of the Revolution left many ad- 
venturers, who gravitated to the western frontier as offering 
the best opportunities for the free and easy life which appealed 
to them. The years of border warfare with its atrocities had 
hardened the people generally, so that scenes of violence did 
not shock them as they would those who have lived long amid a 
peaceful and orderly sequence of events. 

This has illustration in the historical fact that from the 
region which became the chief center of the Whisky Insurrec- 



\4 The ^^hi£ky Insurrection 

tion went forth, only a few years before, the company of men 
who butchered in cold blood the helpless men, Avomen and 
children of the Christianized Indians in the three villages of the 
Moravian mission settlements in Ohio. And after that David 
Williamson, the leader of the expedition, was triumphantly 
elected sheriff of Washington county, showing: his popularity 
among the people. He was a colonel of militia during the In- 
surrection, and one of the orders issued to him by David Brad- 
ford when he was in the saddle as leader has been preserved. 

EARLIER SECESSION SENTIMENT. 

It is only fair to say, also, that the g'overnment of and by 
the people was young' and untried, and that reverence for it, 
which has come to be a part of the education of every well rais- 
ed youth in our time, was lacking. Indeed, as indicated a little 
earlier, there was with the majority in this region, a measure of 
hostility to the government, as represented by the party in con- 
trol of its administration, and dating back to the debates pro- 
ceding the adoption of the constitution. And even before that 
there had been manifest a sentiment which showed that the peo- 
ple of the region regarded the tie connecting them with the gen- 
eral government as something which might easily be broke a. 
Until the close of the Revolution, Virginia claimed, and actually 
exercised, authority over this part of Pennsylvania, and many 
of the people of the region g'ave allegiance to the Old Dominion, 
resenting the arrangement by which it was recognized as a part 
of Pennsylvania. Threats of withdrawing and forming an inds- 
pendent state were then heard, and these were repeated at in- 
tervals afterwards. The Irvine-Washington correspondence 
contains a letter written in 1782 from the then commandant at 
Fort Pitt to General Washington, in which great anxiety is ex- 
pressed concerning the prevalence of a sentiment in favor of se- 
cession among the people of this section, and the next year the 
Supreme Executive Council deemed it of sufficient moment to 
justify sending an emissary to them whose mission, in the lan- 
guage of his instructions, was *'to bring those deluded citizens 
of the western counties to a proper sense of their duty.'' 

During the Revolution the western people had their griev- 
aaices- Scourged along the whole border by the horrible savage 



The Whisky Insurrection 1 5 

warfare, instigated and urged on by the British, they not only 
v;ere left to fight their own battles against great odds, but had 
to ccntribnte largely to the fighting forces for the main theater 
of action in the East. The lememberance of this rankled. 

The excise law was enacied, as has been said, in the spring 
of 1791, and the government at once began to take steps for its 
execution. It met with opposition in various sections of the 
country, but there was no special ditiiculty encountered in its 
enforcement anywhere except in the regions west of the moun- 
tains. The act provided for the machinery necessary for its op- 
eration, and soon this was set going, collectors gathering in the 
excise in the various localities and making reports to officials 
having jurisdiction in larger territories. The Fourth Survey in 
Pennsylvania, which comprised the counties in its southwestern 
corner, then had a population estimated at seventy thousand. Jt 
Avas here that the government met stubborn opposition in its ef- 
forts to enforce the new law. 

Isolated as it was from the rest of the country, and con- 
nected only by the most primitive highways, there could be lit- 
tle commerce with the country at large. The rich region raised 
grain greatly in excess o"f the needs of its inhabitants, but it 
cost more to transport a barrel of flour over the mountains than 
it would sell for in the markets of the East. So it w^as with the 
fruits of the region. But when these were distilled into spirits, 
they could be transported more readily, and be sold at a profit. 
A horse could pack but four bushels of grain, but could easily 
transport the product of twenty-four bushels in the form of dis- 
tilled liquor. Laborious as it was, a considerable traffic had thus 
grown up, the inhabitants of the region making the long pil- 
grimages to the eastern settlements and there trading their pro- 
ducts for the necessary things which their region did not at that 
time produce. 

It has already been mentioned that the government script 
was at that time practically worthless, and there was very little 
specie in the country. Spirits thus became in a large measure 
the medium of exchange, and were traded for about anything 
one desired to acquire. It should be noted also that the use of 
whisky as a beverage was almost universal. In the rigorous cli- 
mate and strenuous outdoor life of the people, it was thought to 



1^' The Whisky Insurrection- 

be necessary as a medicine, and among the Scotch and Irish it 
had been the national beverage for generations. The etiquette 
©f the time requird that the bottle and glass be set out whenever 
visitors came into the house, and all classes, even many of thi- 
ministers of the Gospel, drank without prejudice. 

Being in such general use, both as a beverage and as cur- 
rency, it was produced by nearly every tiller of the soil. A few 
neighbors would go together in the conduct of a distillery, auvt 
it is estimated that there was, in many sections of this region, at 
least one distillery for every six farms. The tax on both the 
still and its product caught all, whether they followed the busi- 
ness of distilling or had their grain distilled by others. 

\ EXCISE LAW OPPOSED. 

Active opposition to the operation of the law manifested 
itself as soon as the attempt was made to put it in force. Lead- 
ing men of the region gathered in meetings and protested 
against it, and many of the farmers whom it affected directly 
met the efforts to enforce the law with violence towards the offi- 
cers charged with that duty. Some of the speeches made and 
the resolutions adopted in the gatherings were highly intemper- 
ate in their tone and bitter in their denunciation of the govern- 
ment. It was contended that the distilling of the western coun- 
try was primarily domestic, and should not be classed as a pr,»- 
duct for general taxation ; also that it was an unjust discrimina- 
tion, because to lay spirits down in the communities east of the 
mountains, the only outside market open to the western peoplo, 
the cost to the producer was just double what it cost a distiller 
in the East to make and put his product on the market, but the 
tax was the same in both cases. The feeling was especially bit- 
ter towards any who would accept commissions under the gov- 
ernment in the enforcement of the excise law, and meetings 
held both at Washington and at Pittsburg, participated in by 
many of the principal men of the region, subscribed to resolu- 
tions which declared : 

"That, whereas, some men may be found among us, so far lost co 
every sense of virtue and feeling for the distresses of their country, as 
to accept the office of collector of the duty, 

"Resolved, therefore, that in the future we will consider such per- 



The Whisljy Insurrection ll' 

sons as unworthy of our friendship, have no intercourse or tlealinge 
with them, withdraw from them every assistance, withhold all the 
comforts of life which depend upon those duties that as men and fel- 
low citizens we owe to each other, and upon all occasions treat them 
with that contempt they deserve; and that it be, and it is hereby most 
earnestly recommended to the people at large to follow the same line 
-of conduct towards them." 

Here was tlie essential spirit of the boycott, long before 
Ibe word had been invented and one hundred sixteen years be' 
fore the Supreme Court of the nation had declared it in viola- 
lion of the Constitution. 

These and lil^e resolutions were adoptecl by iilen who wer6 
recognized leaders of their time, including some county official^-, 
attorneys, ex-officers of the patriot army and even ministers .>f 
the Gospel. At most of tbe meetings of the kind, including on«^ 
which adopted the foregoing extract. Col. Edward Cook, oi" 
Fayette county, one of the foremost men of the time in the 
western country, presided, and the name of Albert Gallatin, as 
secretary, attests the passage of the resolutions. The example of 
these and other prominent men bore its certain fruit in the vio- 
lence which followed. Some of them later saw the folly of their 
heated expressions, and sought to stem the tide of insurrection, 
but others of them were carried along with it. 

Popular opposition to the excise, when efforts were made 
to collect it, took the form of violence towards the collectors. 
The official for Washington and Allegheny counties was caug]it 
by a number of men in an obscure place on Pigeon creek, and 
they cut his hair off, tarred and feathered him and sent him 
home afoot. Another man was tarred and feathered for speak- 
ing in favor of the law, and one in whose house the office of the 
excise collector had been established was threatened with the' 
destruction of his property if he did not cause the office to be- 
removed. He at once gave public notice that the office would 
no longer be permitted to be there. Under a threat of having 
his house burned, the collector for Fayette county resigned his' 
commission, and after the collector for "Westmoreland county 
had repulsed more than one attack on his house, it was finally 
destroyed. 

There were those who were desirous of obeying the law, 
but as soon as they made return of their stills and it became 



1 8 The \\^l:i:iky Iisiirreclicn 

known that the}^ were disp:^sei to comply with the law, the bat- 
teries cf the opposing forces were turned on them. They were 
denouneed as traitors and held up to open scorn. They receiv- 
ed notice, by anonymous communications either left at their 
doorsteps or tacked on their buildings, threatening destruction 
of their property if they did not join in the opposition to the 
law., in a number of cases these threats w^ere carried out, and 
barns, dis.'illeries, mills and other buildings wereburned in the 
night. And frequently the victims of these outrages were com- 
pelled, under threat of further injury, to publish. accounts of 
the occurrences as warnings to others that they might expect 
tlie same treatment unless they joined the opposition to the op- 
erati^ n of the law^ 

SECRET ORGANIZATIONS. 

It was when the excitement occasioned by these things was 
at its height that the secret organizations began to be formed, 
in connection wnth the movement before noted, growing out of 
the agilation by the French emissary. The idea took greatly in 
this western country, and many such organizations were formed 
under tLe name of Democratic Societies. These, societies were 
patterned somewhat after the Jacobin clubs of France. At that 
time practically all men capable of bearing arms were enrolled 
in the militia. The drill times and muster days were great oc- 
casions for the assembling of men, and they were taken advani- 
a3"e of now for the propagation of these societies. Soon nearly 
every headquarters point for a regiment or battalion had its 
nourishing society, and there were others besides. These, while 
perhaps not organized primarily to combat. the excise, undoubt- 
edly had a powerful influence in that direction. 

There is evidence that there were inner circles and hidden 
conclaves of even greater mystery than the societies referred to. 
'Jlieir existence could only be known by their doings, which usu- 
ally were under cover of night. They seem to have planned the 
demonstrations against those who gave offense against the popu 
lar cause and {o have issued the warnings when these were gi .'- 
en. All this brought about a veritable reign of terror. No man 
could know just how far to trust his neighbors, nor wdiether 
they might not be spying upon him. 



The "Wbisky Insurrection 19 

It was at this time that '"Torn the Tinker" appeared on the 
.scene. The name was signed to warnings issued to complying 
distillers and others who incurred the enmity of the opposition, 
'illis was inie of the most unique features of the whole movt;- 
ment. If there was one who was first known by that name, it 
soon, apparently, passed. the stage of being a particular designa- 
tijii for an individual and became that Avhich stood for the 
cause of the opposers cf the excise. At their rallies the cry Vv^;is 
"Hurrah for Tom the Tinker!" and they took pride in being 
known as "Tom the Tinker's men." A distiller who had the 
hardihood to go counter to the prevailing sentiment and enter- 
ed his still for taxation, found a notice posted up in the night 
at his door, warning him that unless he aligned himself with the 
opposers of the excise, "Tom the Tinker" would pay him a visit 
and mend his still! The distiller stood firm in what he consider- 
ed to be his duty as a loyal citizen, and a few nights later his 
still was riddled with bullets from the rifles of those doubtless 
who had given the warning. The rude joke caught the fancy of 
the masses, and "Tom the Tinker" was in high favor from that 
time. 

The Pittsburg Gazette, then a crudely printed little folio 
sheet, issued weekly, was the only newspaper at that time print- 
ed west of the mountains. Its proprietor and editor, John Scull. 
seems to have remained loyal to the government at heart 
through all the troubled time, but the pressure brought on him 
for the making of his paper Tom's official organ was stronger 
than he could successfully resist and keep his enterprise going. 
Some of the warnings to those who were in disfavor with the 
opposers of the excise were sent to the paper for publication, 
coupled with the notice that if they failed to appear Tom would 
pay his respects to the office of publication in person, and they 
appeared with due regularity. Men who were converted to 
Tom's way of thinking by his strenuous methods were also 
made to publish in the paper the fact of their changed attitude, 
and to warn others. Truly this pioneer publisher, along with 
others, had his trials and vexation of spirit. 

NOT ALL DISLOYAL. 
That there were many people in the region who were op- 



20 The Whisky Insurrection 

posed to the course taken by those who combatted the excise 
and secretly were loyal to the goverDment, there is little reason 
to doubt, but it took a deal of courage to stand out openly in op- 
position to what was the prevailing sentiment, under the con- 
ditions that have been described. A mere expression of opinion 
in support of the government was often visited with punish- 
ment, and where one, especially a person engaged in distiiliu^f, 
was known to show any tendency towards complying with the 
law, he was almost certain to feel the weight of the hidden 
hand. It soon came to be that the ordinary machinery of justice 
was entirely powerless to punish any offense against the law, if 
committed in these demonstrations against the excise. Many of 
the magistrates were openly with the opposiion, and any who 
might have felt disposed to enforce the law were powerless !•) 
act because they could not secure the service of papers on those 
who were offenders. 

Thus matters continued for about three years after the pa>;- 
sage of the act. At the succeeding session of Congress it was 
modified considerably, its provisions not being so onerous, la 
the hope that the western people might be placated and the 
trouble be composed without resort to force on the part of the 
government. But the only effect produced by this apparently 
was to intensify the people in their opposition, they interpret- 
ing this as a weakening on the part of the administration. Then 
Washington issued a proclamation in which he declared that 
the excise law would be impartially enforced, and all persons 
were warned not to interfere with its operation. Gen. John 
Neville was appointed Inspector of Excise in the Fourth Sur- 
vey. It was a long time before he could get collectors in the 
field and offices opened, but he was a man of great determina- 
tion and of undoubted bravery. It was well in the year 1794 
when he finally felt that he could force the issue, and it was 
then realized that a crisis had come. 

The opposition became more intense and feeling ran high. 
Great gatherings were held at various places and impassioned 
speeches were made in opposition to the excise law and its en- 
forcement. In many places "liberty poles", so-called, were 
raised. These were tall masts which carried streamers on 
which were inscribed sentiments of opposition to and defiance 



Tlie Whisky Insurrection 21 

of the law. On the occasions of these pole raisings, a favorite 
form of diversion for the crowds gathered was to catch men 
suspected of disloyalty to the cause and command them to cheer 
for the sentiments thus emblazoned. Orators declared their 
cause to be similar to that of the colonists before independence, 
in being unjustly taxed and in being carried away from their 
homes for trial when charged with violation of the law. The 
latter was one of the great grievances of the people who op- 
posed the excise. There was, up to this time, no sitting of the 
federal court west of the mountains, and those of the western 
country who were haled into court to answer a charge of violat- 
ing federal statutes had to cross the mountains, to York or Phil- 
adelphia. A remedy was provided in this particular also, by 
the action of Congress, but the main outbreak of the Insurrec- 
tion came just when preparations were being made to establish 
the court in the western country. 

THE SPARK TO THE TINDER. 

Given all the conditions that have been described, it was 
hardly to be expected otherwise than that a serious clash should 
occur, and its occasion was soon supplied. Proceedings were in- 
stituted against a number of distillers who had refused to have 
their stills registered for taxation, and in the early part of July 
Major Lenox, United States Marshal, arrived in the western 
country with writs for some forty such offenders, commanding 
them to appear in court and answer to the charges against them. 
These proceedings having been begun in the East, w^ere re- 
turnable there. It was while serving these papers (and the last 
of them, as it happened) that the IMarshal was accompanied by 
Gen. Neville, the Inspector, to the home of a farmer, living in 
the Peters creek valley, near the line separating Allegheny and 
Washington counties. A number of men were helping to gather 
in the harvest, and, according to the custom of the time, the 
whisky bottle had been passed among them more than once, 
When the two officials were moving away, after the paper had 
been read, an attack was made on them and a shot was fired at 
them. 

GENERAL NEVILLE'S HOUSE ATTACKED. 

The same day a regimental meeting was being held at Min- 



22 The Whisky Insurrection 

go Presbyterian church, and the word of these occurrences was 
carried there just when the gathering was brealcing up. It 
caused intense excitement, and the same night a party was 
made up, numbering 35 to 40 men, under the leadership of John 
Hollcroft, which proceeded, armed, to the 'residence of Gea. 
Neville, in the Chartiers valley, arriving there at about day- 
break the next morning. There was a short parley, in which the 
Inspector's commission was demanded and refused, and an ex- 
change of shots between the assaulting party and the members 
of the Inspector's household and servants. This resulted in the 
repulse of Hollcroft and his followers, with six of the latter 
wounded, at least one of them mortally. 

The word of this encounter spread rapidly, and caused the 
wildest excitement. The word went forth for a gathering of the 
forces opposed to the excise on the following day. Many gath- 
ered at Mingo church, but the principal place of rendezvous was 
Couch's Fort, an old block-house of the days of Indian warfare, 
on the Pittsburg and Brownsville road. Men came from various 
parts of Allegheny and Washington counties, until a force esti- 
mated at from five to six hundred had assembled. A majority 
of these were members of the battalion of militia which had its 
headquarters at Mingo church, and Benjamin Parkinson, presi- 
dent of the Democratic society which met there, was of th.:' 
number. The commander of the Mingo regiment, Col. John 
Hamilton, was not present, and the force elected Major Jamos 
McFarlane to the command for the day, though the record is 
that he accepted it reluctantly. 

Gen. Neville had heard of the preparations for advancing 
again on his house, and at his solicitation a file of eleven United 
States soldiers from the garrison at Pittsburg M^as sent to his 
house early in the day". The request was prei'erred through 
Major Abraham Kirkpatrick of Pittsburg, a brother-in-law of 
Gen. Neville, who also had been an officer in the Revolution. He 
accompanied the soldiers to the Neville country house, which 
was about seven miles southwest of Pittsburg, and was really 'n 
command there through the exciting events of the day. Ov. hU 
advice, Gen. Neville withdrew from the house and went lo 
Pittsburg. 

It was late in the day when the force that came against it 



The Whisky Insurrection 23 

arii\ed at the house. Military regulations seem to have been 
observed. Pickets were posted around the place and it was ap- 
proached under coa er of the woods. A demand was made on 
the occupants of tbe house for the surrender of Gen. Neville. A 
reply was made that he was not in the house. Then a demand 
was made that a committee be permitted to search the house for 
him ov his commission and other papers bearing on his office of 
Inspector of Excise. This was refused. It was then announced 
that an attack would be made on the house, but first safe eon- 
duct M'culd be given the women and children to a place '.'f 
refuge. This was accepted and was accomplished by their re- 
moval to the house of Col. Pressly Neville, son of the Inspector, 
a shcirt distance away. 

Gen. Neville resided for most of the year in Pittsburg, and 
this was his country home. It was at that time the finest place 
west of the IMonongahela river. The mansion was a commodi- 
ous one and luxurious for that time, and was surrounded by 
barns and other out-buildings and quarters for the negroes, for 
the General was the owner of a goodly number of slaves. He 
called the place Bower Hill, and it was between the present 
Bower Hill and AVoodville stations of the Chartiers Valley rail- 
road, nearer to the former, and the mansion was set back on the 
bluff to the right in descending the creek, and commanding i 
fine view of the adjacent country. It was afterwards ascertain- 
ed that frequent threats of an attack on his house had been car- 
ried to him, and he had prepared for it by arming and training 
the members of liis household, including Lis servants, and by fit- 
ting stout Avooden shutters on the windows of the house. 

DESTRUCTION OF INSPECTOR'S PROPERTY. 

In the attack which followed there was spirited firing from 
both sides, and early in it ]\tajor McFarlane, who commanded 
the assailing party, was shot and expired almost instantly. This 
increased the fury of his folloAvers, by Avhom he was greatly be- 
loved, and they continued the attack on the Jiouse with increas- 
ed energy, while firebrands were applied to the outbuildings. 
These were soon in flames and the fire communicated to the 
dwellings. This resulted in the surrender of those within it. 
Some of these, and others of Gen. Neville's family and friends 



24 The Whisky Insufrectioil 

who arrived on the scene from Pittsburg, were in great per'l. 
especially when the liquors found in the cellar of the burning 
house were brought out and freely partaken of by the mob, ,-is 
it had now become. The house was entirely destroyed, with all 
its valuable contents. It was after night when the house whs 
burned, and the prisoners were aided in escaping from their 
captors, who swore they would hang them, by some who seem t > 
have had an appreciation of the gravity of the situation and to 
have remained sober in the general saturnalia. 

It is worthy of note here that many of the officers of the 
militia claimed afterwards that their principal object in being 
present on this and other occasions was to try to prevent ex- 
cesses on the part of the men, and other facts seem to bear this 
out as +0 some of them, at least. The elder Brackenridge gives 
it as his opinion that some prominent men whom he names went 
to various places, on a general call for assembling, "at the so- 
licitation and under fear of the people." Some who went thus, 
when they found themselves involved, seem to have thrown 
aside all scruples and became leading spirits in the insurrection- 
ary movement. This is true of David Bradford, who, except in 
his participation in some of the early meetings to protest 
against the enforcement of the excise law in the western coun- 
try, was not heard of in the exciting occurrences of the time 
until after the destruction of the Neville house. Shortly after 
that occurrence Gen. Neville and JMaj. Lenox took their depart- 
ure quietly from Pittsburg by a fiatboat down the Ohio river to 
Marietta, and from there made their way through the wilder- 
ness of western Virginia, over the mountains and to the East. 

Events of moment followed each other rapidly from this 
time on in the summer of 1794, the destruction of the Inspec- 
tor's house' having been on the 17th of July in that year, but 
these can only be briefly sketched here. A largely attended 
meeting was held at Mingo Presbyterian church about a week 
later, called by those who had been prominent in the expedition 
to Neville's. This place was central in the district which took 
the lead in the affairs of the time, and jnay justly be regarded 
as the main center of the Insurrection. An effort was made at 
this meeting to gain support for those who had been at Neville's: 
and to make an open declaration of defiance of the government^ 



The Whisky Insurrection 25 

thus involving the western country generally with those whose 
act, it was feared, would be construed as rebellion. Principally 
through the address of Mr. Brackenridge, any formal declara- 
tion was deferred, he arguing- that the meeting was not a repre- 
sentative one of the whole people of the western country, and 
his suggstion that such a one be called was adopted, August 14 
being designated as the time and Parkinson's Ferry (now Mo- 
nongahela City) the place. 

DAVID BRADFORD'S APPEARANCE. 

David Bradford attended the JMingo church meeting and 
spoke warmly for continued resistance to the government. From 
this time he took a prominent part with the insurgents, and soon 
came to be recognized as their leader. He was a ready talker 
and had some of the elements of a leader of men, but though 
bold in planning great enterprises, was sadly lacking in some v.? 
the qualities necessary for carrying them out. For a time when 
the frenzy was at its height he was the idol of his followers, and 
had he been cast in a different mould, could have made the 
AVhisky Insurrection a much more formidable thing than it was 
to the nation. But he was. weak and vacillating when crises 
came, afraid of doing something which might impair his popu- 
larity, and no match in mentality and adroitness for those who 
were pitted against him. James Marshall also cast his lot ac- 
tively Math the Insurrection at the IMingo meeting. He was a 
man of high standing, but seems to have been dominated by 
Bradford. 

From this time on Bradford's object was to involve the 
western country with those who felt that they were likely to be 
called to account for the excesses in connection with the demon- 
strations against the Inspector. It was hoped that with the 
whole large population involved, the government would be de- 
terred from the execution of extreme measures against individ- 
uals. 

Largely through Bradford's instrumentality, an effort was 
made to rob the mail from Washington to Pittsburg, but this 
failed, and then two men lay in wait and held up the carrier ot 
the mail from Pittsburg to the East, when he was approaching 
Greensburg. The sack was rifled, a number of letters being 



26 The Whisky Insurrectioil 

taken from it and opened. The avoAved object of this was l<t 
learn, if possible, what reports were being sent to the East coi> 
cerning the recent doings of the opposers of the excise. Half a 
dozen letters were found, from men of prominence in Pittsburg 
to government officials and others, in reference to the matter. 
These were taken by Bradford and a few others in his confi- 
dence to an upper room in a tavern in Canonsburg, and opene i. 
Some of them contained that which gave great offense to Brad- 
ford. At once an address was sent by the junto to commanders 
of the militia in the western counties, calling for as large a forre 
as they could raise, at Braddock's Field, the usual place of gen- 
eral rendezvous for the militia. 

It was directed that the men should assemble, supplied 
with arms and ammunition and with four days' rations. \ 
part of the plan, as set forth by Bradford, who originated it,^ 
though not mentioned in this general circular of instructions, 
was that the army thus gathered should march on Pittsburi:-, 
overcome the garrison of Fort Fayette, sieze the arms, ammu- 
nition and other munitions of war stored there, and thus equip 
an army to meet any force that the government might send 
against them. Bradford also busied himself in writing to 
various persons in Virginia, urging attendance on the comin;>' 
meeting at Parkinson's Ferry. The tone of some of his lettev;4 
which have been preserved shows that he was trying all the 
time to make sentiment in opposition to the government and 
to have the representative gathering declare for continued 
resistance. 

THE BRADDOCK'S FIELD ASSEMBLAGE. 

The assemblage which gathered at Braddock's Field num- 
l)ered about seven thousand men, most of them under arras. 
That many of them went with mixed motives there is little 
doubt. Some went through fear of the consequences of re- 
fusing; some, especially of the officers, went in the hope of 
being able to deter the more hot-headed ones from violence 
some went there doubtless through the curiosity whicl^ at- 
tends any such demonstration. But the majority, with little 
doubt, were there because they hated the excise law and wanted 
some opportunity of striking a blow at it and the govern- 



The Whisky Insurrection 27 

meiit which was seeking to enforce it. They were ready for any 
desperate enterprise, and only wanted a determined and 
courageous leadership to engage in whatever presented itself 
of that character. Bradford w'as then at the zenith of his pop- 
l.irity as a leader, but his weakness was strikingly shown tlieri!. 

The feeling against Pittsburg was particularly bitter, be- 
cause many of the leading people there had expressed them- 
selves against the outbreak of those in opposition to the govern- 
ment, and the proposition to move against the little town (for 
its papulation at the time was little more than a thousand) 
met wilh great favor. The inhabitants of the place w^ere tho- 
roughly scared. They made a semblance of banishing from 
the place some who had incurred the displeasure of the in- 
surgents, .adopted resolutions of sympathy for their cause and 
sent a large delegation of leading citizens and militia out lo 
the rendezvous to mingle with the throng and attempt to 
placate their wrath. 

The determination of just Avhat should be done was sub- 
mitted to a commitee, and on the representation that the stores 
in the fort were for use in an expedition then .in the field 
against the hostile Indians, an agreement was reached to aban- 
don the attack on it. I's protection w^as a mere stockade and 
its garrison was slender, so it could easilv have been carried bv 
the thousands of determined riflemen, even if it had made any 
resistance, W'hich is doubtful. By the afternoon of the sec- 
ond day in camp, when Bradford was induced to yield one 
point after another, many of the men from a distance became 
disgusted and left for their homes. But many yet remained and 
insisted on being led to Pittsburg, and seeing that it was im- 
possible to deter them, the march began, about four thousand 
men being in line, with banners flying and their cries rend- 
ing the air. 

Those who engaged in the march were chiefly from Wash- 
ington county and the portion of Allegheny county lying con- 
tiguous to it, on the west side of the Monongahela river. 
Arrived in the town, the army drew" up on the "common"' 
between the site of the present court house and Market street, 
and were there regaled wnth whisky, water and food by thj 
inhabitants, many of whom w^ere wa^ought up to a high pitch 



28 The Whisky Insurrection 

of nervousness. In the evening most of them crossed the river 
and proceeded to their homes, though a number remained, witii 
the expressed determination of destroying the property of thoNC 
who had incurred their enmity, and were with great difficulty 
prevented from burning a number of houses in the town. The 
barn of Major Kirkpatrick on the south side hill, overlooking 
the town, was given to the llames that night. 

Though the ending of the Braddock's Field demonstration: 
was tame, after its brave beginning, nothing else to that time- 
operated so in intensifying the opposition to the government. 
There was apparent acquiescence on the part of leading mi;.i 
of Pittsburg and all the regions round about in the movement 
against the excise, in their dissimulation for the saving of Pitts- 
burg; and the disaffection spread like wildfire. There were 
many acts of disorder and destruction of property between* 
that time and the assembling of the delegate meeting at Par- 
kinson 's Ferry on the 14th of August. 

THE PARKINSON'S FERRY MEETING. 

That occasion brought together a great number. Delegates, 
were chosen by townships, and two hundred sixteen of these- 
were present, coming from the counties of Washington. AH"- 
gheny, Westmoreland, Fayette and Bedford in Pennsylvania 
and Ohio county in Virginia. There was a much larger number 
of spectators. The meeting was held in the open air, on the 
hill portion of what is now the city of Monongahela. The dele- 
gates for the most part were principal men of their several 
neighborhoods, and some of the foremost men of the time in the 
western country took part in the deliberations. 

Albert Gallatin was there, appearing again in the move- 
ment in which he had been prominent in its earlier stages, but 
now as an advocate of submission to the law. In this he was 
ably aided by Hugh H. Braekenridge, but they had to be most 
circumspect in their utterances and procedure, feigning oppo- 
sition to each other in some of the things proposed. Col. Cook 
was made president of the meeting and Gallatin its secretary. 
Bradford and Marshall took the lead for the more radical of 
the insurgents, the former especially declaring boldly for war 
ajid no compromise. The first set of resolutions proposed re- 



The Whisky Insurrection 29 

sistaTiee to tlie excise laws a.jd to the taking of citizens away 
from the vicinity for trial in cases growing out of the attempte 1 
enforcement of the law. They were discussed at some length, 
amid scenes which made the position of anyone attempting to 
overcome them a most difficult one. The meeting was sur- 
rounded by a large crowd whose sympathies were entirely with 
the opposition to the government. A tall pole, erected that 
morning by some of these, bore a streamer with the inscrip- 
tion : -'Equal Taxation and No Excise; No Asylum for Traitors 
and Cowards."" 

Gallatin and his associates finally succeeded in having the 
resolutions referred to a committee of which they became mem=- 
hers. Col. Cook by this time was evidently sick of the whole 
business, and had come to have a proper appreciation of its 
gravity. His influence had been for peace at the Braddock's 
Field meeting, and the committee of his appointment on this 
occasion was evidently one chosen with a view to curbing the 
defiant spirit of the meeting's official utterances, so far as 
possible. The radical element had to be recognized by appoint- 
ing Bradford and some of his kind on the committee also, but 
he was no match for the adroit Brackenridge and the astute 
Gallatin, and the resolutions reported back to the general meet- 
ing the following day were very tame in comparison with the 
fiery ones at first proposed. 

« WASHINGTON ACTS. 

It is doubtful if the labors of those who were seeking to 
avoid a serious clash with the government would have met with 
the measure of success they did, had not events unexpectedly - 
shaped themselves in their favor on the second and last day of 
the gathering. Word of the recent doings in the western coun- 
try had been carried over the mountains, and President Wash- 
ington decided that the time had finally come for vigorous ac- 
tion. With him to decide was to act. Seven days before the 
date of the Parkinson's Ferry meeting he issued a proclama- 
tion which recited the facts of formations in the western coun- 
try to defeat the execution of the excise law, and the perpetra- 
tion of acts which he defined as treason, being, in the language 
of the proclamation, ''overt acts of levying war against the 



30 The Whisky IriSiirrection 

United States." He commanded all insurgents to disperse tuid 
retire peaceably to their homes before the first of September 
following-, and warned all persons against aiding, abetting cr 
comforting the perpetrators of these treasonable acts. At the 
same time he issued a call for 12,950 troops, to be raised in 
Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and New Jersey, to be heM 
in readiness for immediate service, if desired. 

But, that one more opportunity might be given the insur- 
gents to submit to federal authority, he appointed a commis- 
sion to visit the scene of disturbance at once and try to bring 
about submission to the laM^ without sending the soldiers. The 
Governor of Pennsylvania appointed a like commission, and th.' 
two came together. Word of these proceedings came to the 
western country for the first time on the second, day of the 
Parkinson's Ferry meeting, and at the same time it was an- 
nounced that the commissioners, on their M^ay to Pittsburg, had 
then reached a point within a few miles of the place where the 
meeting was being held, one of them (James Ross, then .^f 
"Washington, Pa., later of Pittsburg, United States Senator fro;!i 
Pennsylvania) attending the meeting. 

This intelligence, coming at the psychological moment, had 
a sobering effect on many of the delegates. The amended res )- 
lutions reported by the committee were adopted with but little 
opposition, though Bradford assailed such action violently. l\i 
an impassioned speech he called for preparation to be made to- 
repel the ''invasion," declaring that the western people were 
well able to hurl back in defeat any force that might be sent" 
against them. He drew parallels betAveen the case of the west- 
ern people and that of the colonies in the Revolution, and de- 
manded that an army be raised to fight for what he declared 
were their rights. The sentiment was applauded by the sur- 
rounding crowd and found some supporters among the dele- 
gates, but he failed to carry the day with a majority of them. 
Some who had secretly been opposed to any violence were now' 
emboldened to take a stand for order and submission, and some 
who had been active in the cause of the insurgents becamo 
lukewarm. ' - 

The resolutions adopted denounced the taking of citizens 
away from the vicinity of their abode for trial; provided for a' 



The Whisky Insurrection 31 

i^tandmg committee of conference, to counsel the best course t > 
pursue in the future ; and another committee to meet the com- 
missioners of the government. The latter could only receive 
the message of the commissioners and bear it to the standing 
ccmmittee. The meeting with the commissioners was appointed 
for the 20lh of August, at Pittsburg, and of the standing com- 
mittee to bear and act on their report, at Brownsville, on the 2d 
of September. 

The result of the Parkinson's Ferry meeting did not bring an 
end of disorder. On the other hand, it seemed to act as an 
irritant and to stir up opposition afresh. The men who were 
determined to resist the operation of the excise law were the 
more set in their purpose. Tom the Tinker's warnings became 
more numerous, and whenever and wherever they w^ere not 
heeded he struck with promptness and certainty. One of his 
screeds was posted up on the building in which the commis- 
sioners and the committee held their conference in Pittsburg, 
jmd was published in the paper there. It was insulting in itti 
terras and held the New Jersey militia up to ridicule — some- 
thing for which the soldiers from that state tooke vengeance 
later. jMeetings were held in various sections of the region, at 
which fiery speeches were made and the people were advis-^l 
not to submit to the government, but to resist to the bitter end, 
the speakers expressing their belief that his course would wia. 
Bradford busied himself in sending out letters in which con- 
tinned resistance was urged. He now declared for the creation 
(-f an independent state. 

THE GOVERNMENT'S REQUIREMENTS. 

AYhen the meeting was held in Pittsburg each side made- 
propositions for settlement, but the commissioners for the gov- 
ernment made it plain and emphatic that they were not author- 
ized to consider any terms except full and satisfactory assur- 
ance of a sincere determination on the part of the people to 
cease opposing the excise laAv and to be in submission and 
obedience to the authority of the government. The committee 
having asked of the commissioners a more explicit setting 
forth of just what was required, they presented the following 
to them in writing: 



32 ~ The Whisky Insurrection 

"1. It is expected, and required by the said commiss'oners, that 
the citizens composing the said general committee, do on or before Vvi 
1st day of September, explicitly declare their determin'ation to submit 
to the laws of the United States, and they will not directly or indirect- 
ly oppose the acts for raising revenue on distilled spirits and stills. 

"2. That they do explicitly recommend a perfect and entire ac- 
quiescence under the execution of said acts. 

"3. rhat they do in like manner recommend that no violence, in- 
juries or threats be offered to the person or property of any officer of 
the United States, or citizens complying with the laws, and to declare 
their determination to support (as far as the laws require) the civil 
authority in affording the protection due to all officers and cit'zens. 

"4. That measures be taken by meetings in election district, or 
otherwise, the determination of the citizens of the fourth survey of 
Pennsylvania to submit to the said laws, and that satisfactory assur- 
ance be given to the said commissioners that the people have so de 
cided to submit, on or before the 14th of September next." 

If these conditions were met, the commissioners were 
authorized to promise, and did promise, general amnesty and 
pardon for past offenses. Bradford and a few other memlDers 
of the committee opposed acceptance of this ultimatum, but ;i, 
majority decided to report to the general committee in favor of 
accepting the terms, and the minority agreed to acquiesce i'l 
the report. 

THE SECOND BROWNSVILLE MEETING. 

At the Brownsville meeting the leaders in the Insurrection 
made their last stand. Like the Parkinson's Ferry meeting, it 
was held in the open aif. Liberty poles with their declarations 
of defiance had been planted, and handbills were distributed in 
which it was charged that the commissioners had bribed mem- 
bers of the committee to report in favor of submission and am- 
nesty, while threats of tar and feathers and the destruction of 
property were made against any who would favor submissio •.. 
A large crowd, in open sympathy with these sentiments, had 
gathered, many of the men being armed. From a tall pole flut- 
tered a flag which bore but seven instead of the usual thirte^ji 
stars, these being for the seven counties of Pennsylvania ami 
Virginia which it was proposed should secede and form an in- 
dependent state. Bradford, notwithstanding his promise "^o 
concur in the report of the majority of the committee, opposed 
it viciously when the time came. 



The Whisky Insiirrection 33 

Gallatin, Brackenridge and James Edgar spoke for sub- 
mission, and pointed out the futility of meeting the government 
forces with armed resistance. Only the substance of what they 
said has been preserved, but for nearly a whole day they set 
forth with eloquence and earnestness the reasons why resist- 
ance to the government should be abandoned. 

Bradford's speech on the occasion of this last rally of the 
opposition to the law was one of his most violent. He began by 
declaring himself "still for war," and averred that the western 
people could easily defeat the first army that should attempt to 
<?ross the mountains. In their defiles, he declared, one m.-in 
could easily overcome four, and a whole army could be anni- 
hilated by rolling stones down on them. He boldly declared 
for a new state, with an independent government, and de- 
nounced the government of the United States as tyrannous and 
< pp' essi\ e. 

After ten hours cf this oratory, pro and con, it was sug- 
gested that a vote be taken on the proposition submitted by the 
t'-^mmissioners, but the members of the committee were afraid 
to put it to vote. Another effort was made, and this time it 
was proposed that the vote be by ballot, but still objection was 
urged, the fear evidently being that the identity of the indivi^i- 
ual voters might be revealed by their handwriting. 

All this shows what uncertainty prevailed as to the exact 
sentiment of the gathering, and the fear that many had of go- 
ing on record as favoring submission and then finding them- 
selves in the minority. But a way of taking an absolutelj^ se- 
i-ret ballot was finally evolved. The secretary was instructed lo 
prepare as many ballots as there were voters, writing "yea" on 
one end and "nay" on the other. The voters were to sevtr 
their ballots, voting one end and destroying the other. "When 
the vote was taken thus and counted, it was found that thirty- 
four had voted in favor of submission and twenty-three 
against. 

The result was a surprise, even to those who had voted in 
the affirmative. It showed that of the representative men who 
made up the committee, whatever might have been the the sen- 
timent before, a decided majority were now in favor of submis- 
sion to the law and the authority of the existing government. 



34 The Whisky Insurrection 

Those who had voted that way now put on a bolder front, and 
the opposition had little to say. Resolutions were adopted by 
the committee without further opposition, that it was to th-^ 
best interests of the people to accede to the proposals of thv> 
commissioners, but the delegates took no further action in line 
with the requirement that they "explicitly declare their de- . 
termination to submit to the laws of the United States," and 
unfortunately another resolution adopted asked for a modifica- 
tion of the terms proposed and for more time to consider them. 

ANOTHER CONFERENCE ASKED. 

The Brownsville meeting appointed another committee of 
conference, but the commissioners refused to grant any modi- 
fication of the terms they had laid down, saying they had 
neither the authority nor the disposition to do so. A few day« 
later another committee appeared, but to what source )f 
authority it owed its existence was not stated. It made further 
demands on the commissioners and manifested a further dispo- 
sition to temporize. This had its effect on the commissioners, 
and they replied with promptness and emphasis that they could 
not consider any further propositions and that the vote on sub- 
mission would be taken on the date first fixed, then ten day^ 
in the future. The commissioners evidently were disappointe.i 
in the outcome of their mission thus far, for they wrote as fol- 
lows in acknowledging the report of the committee from the 
Brownsville meeting: 

"We learn -with emotions difficult to be repressed that in the 
meeting of the committee at Redstone resistance to the laws and open 
rebellion against the United States were publicly advocated, and that 
two-fifths of the body, representing twenty-three townships, totally dis- 
approved of the proposals and preferred the convulsions of a civil con- 
test to the indulgence offered them by their country. Even the mem- 
bers composing the majority, though by a secret and indistinguishable 
vote, they expressed an opinion that it was the interest of the people 
to accede to the proposals, they did not themselves accede to them nor 
give the assurances nor make the recommendations explicitly required 
of them. They have adjourned without day, and the terms are broken 
on their part. 

"We had reasons for requiring these declarations and recommenda- 
tions from that body. They were a representation (in fact) of the dif- 
ferent townships of the western counties — they were a body in whom 



The Whisky Instirrection 35 

the people had chosen to place confidence — there were among them 
men whose advice and example have had influence in misleading the 
people, and it was proper they should be instrumental in recalling 
them to their duty. 

"The President of the United States, while he demands satisfac- 
tory proofs that there will be in the future perfect submission to the 
laws, does not wish the great body of the people should be finally con- 
cluded by the conduct or proceedings of the committee, and if the peo- 
ple themselves will make the declaration required of the standing com- 
mittee and give satisfactory proofs of a general and sincere determina- 
tion to obey the laws, the benefitn offered may still be obtained by those 
individuals who shall explicitly avow their submission as hereinafter 
mentioned." 

The' commissioners folloAved this by recommending a gen- 
eral vote of the people for or against submission, directing how 
it shouki be taken and who shoiikl vote. 

The facts concerning the matters referred to in the fore- 
c;- .ing paragraphs have been gone into at some length, because 
it has been claimed that the sending of the army was not justi- 
fied ; that it was sent against a people who were not then in in- 
surrection and who would have brought about orderly enforce- 
ment of the law of themselves. The attentive student of the 
events can form his own conclusions concerning this, with th ■ 
facts before him. 

ARMY SENT FROM EAST. 

The vote when taken showed that less than one-fourth of 
the number of taxables, and probably less than one-sixth >! 
those classed as voters on this proposition (males of eighteen 
years and over) voted for submission. The vote against sub- 
mission was much smaller than this, but many of the notorious- 
ly unrepentant refused to vote at all. The commissioners re- 
turned to the East and reported that the committee with whom 
they had treated had failed to give the required assuranc'. 
that the vote taken had been wholly unsatisfactory, and that in 
their opinion the excise law could not yet be enforced in the 
western country by the officers appointad for the purpose. As 
a result of this, the army now mobilized and increased to 15.- 
T)00 men, was ordered to take up its march over the mountains. 
It was to proceed in two wings, one composed of the troops of 
eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey, which would march by 



36 The Whisky Insurrection 

the Pennsylvania and Glade roads; the other, composed of 
Maryland and Virginia troops, to follow the old Braddock road 
into western Pennsylvania ; both wings to form a junction near 
the main center of disturbance in the years past. A few para- 
graphs from "Sim Greene" tell this part of the story with suc- 
cinctness : 

"Gen. Henry Lee, then Governor of Virginia, the 'Lii?ht Horse 
Harry' of Revolutionary fame, was appointed to command the army. 
Governors Howell and Mifflin respectively comnranaed the New Jersey 
and Pennsylvania soldiers, Gen. Smith those of Maryland, and Gen. 
Daniel Morgan, another hero of the Revolution, those of Virginia. The 
army, consisting of infantry, cavali-y and artillery, all fully equipped 
for service, made a formidable array. 

"A marked change now became apparent in the prevailing senti- 
ment in the western country. For the first time some of the more 
violent of the insurgents seemed to be convinced that the government 
.... was ready to take decisive action to enforce the laws and pun- 
ish those who should attempt to obstruct the process. There were still 
minor and sporadic cases of disorder, but for the most part the lead- 
ers in the opposition of the years before were concerned in how to 
escape the consequences of their conduct. Another meeting was held 
at Parkinson's Ferry, attended by delegates from all parts of the sur- 
vey, and it appointed commissioners to proceed over the mountains and 
aissure the President that the whole country was now pacified and sub- 
missive. Washington, who had come with the right wing of the army 
as far as Carlisle, received the commissioners kindly, gave them a pa- 
tient hearing, but declined to stop the progress of the army, the pres- 
ence of which, he was convinced, was needed in the western country 
to bring complete submission. But he assured the commissioners that 
no violence would attend the enforcement of the law if the -army should 
meet with no resistance. 

"Instructions in accordance with this were issued to the army, 
and the proclamation of Gen. Lee, on the occasion of his arrival at 
Uniontown, breathed the same spirit. There another commission met 
him, appointed on report of the first one, and gave assurance of com- 
plete submission. Gen. Lee received the gentlemen courteously, but 
replied that the bes*^ evidence of this would be the behavior of the peo- 
ple in the future. . . . Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Trea.s- 
ury, accompanied the army west, and participated in the judicial pro- 
ceedings in connection with the inquiry made of matters pertaining to 
the Insurrection. The Nevilles, father and son, came west with the 
army, and the Inspector soon reopened his office and put the collectors 
to work." 

The passage of the army over the mountains was a very 



The Whisky Insurrection 37 

trying experience to the men composing it. Journals kept by 
^some of them show that the weather for the most part was dis- 
agreeable. Cold and rain almost every day, with muddy roads 
which at their best were but indifferent highways, contributed 
to the discomforts of the journey. There are hints of a rest- 
less and turbulent spirit among many of the soldiers, and that 
they were loud in their threats against the insurgents for get- 
ling them into such experiences. The New Jersey troops felt 
that they had a special grievance, word having been carried lo 
them of the taunts of Tom the Tinker's followers. It is record- 
<ed that before reaching the western counties the soldiers killed 
Iwo men, and that they came vowing vengeance on all wiio 
should fall into their hands. It must have been a distinct 
shock to them to find a country absolutely peaceful, and not an 
armed man to oppose their progress when they finally did ar- 
rive. Such was the fact, for it is recorded that many men who 
had been active in the opposition disappeared within a few 
days, on the approach of the army — some going in hiding in the 
neighborhood, but more than one thousand leaving the stat-?. 
Some of these came back after the trouble blew over, but many 
found permanent homes elsewhere. 

By direction of the President, Judge Peters and District 
Attorney Rawle of the United States court, accompanied the 
army, to conduct such judicial proceedings as the occasion 
■called for. As previously stated, Alexander Hamilton, Secre- 
tary of the Treasury, also came, and participated in these pro- 
ceedings. Gen Lee^s instructions were to suppress armed op- 
position, if any should be met, and support the civil officers in 
the means of executing the law. 

MOVEMENTS OF THE ARMY. 

The histories of the Insurrection have been singularly 
silent as to the movements of the army while it was in the 
West. Particular attention has been given to that phase of the 
subject in the preparation of this paper, and it has required 
much study of the official orders that have been preserved, the 
letters of some personages in the expedition, and diaries still in 
•existence, some of them yet in manuscript, to get a generally 
•correct idea concerning this. 

It is known that the army "was dispersed, with encamp- 



38 The Whisky Insurrection 

merits at various places within the disaffected district, and thut 
in successive raids, often by night, many were gathered in, 
charged with having been engaged in the previous disorder. 
These were confined in the county jails or in detention camps 
until they could be given hearings. It was exceedingiy difficult 
to secure evidence against the most of them, for the people 
generally were averse to testifying. As a matter of fact, there 
were very few of the men who were most wanted left in the 
region. Finally, after many had been let go, there were sev^- 
enteen left in custody, and these were taken to Philadelphia,' 
where they were held for a time, and finally tried. There 
was the same difficulty in getting evidence to convict at the 
trials as at the preliminary hearings. But two of the number 
were convicted, being adjudged guilty of treason and sen- 
tenced to death. They were subsequently pardoned by Pres- 
ident AVashington. 

The main army was in the West only about three weeks. 
On the 29th of October the left wing crossed Laurel Hill and 
encamped in the outskirts of Uniontown. On the 2d of Novem- 
ber it moved northward and went into camp at a point in Ros- 
traver township, about midway between the IMonongahela and 
Youghiogheny rivers. The right wing had arrived on the east 
side of the Youghiqgheny river, near Budd's Ferry. It did not 
cross that stream at that time, but communications were es- 
tablished between the two wings of the army, and Gen. Lee had 
his headquarters at a point between the present towns of "West 
Newton and Webster for at least a week, one of his proclama- 
tions being issued from that point under date of Nov. 9. He 
was in Pittsburg on Nov. 17, and on that date issued the gen- 
eral orders for the return march of the main part of the army 
from the western country. A letter from Secretary Hamilton 
to President A¥ashington, dated at Pittsburg on the 19th, re- 
ports the army generally in motion homeward. It winds up 
with this sentence : "In five minutes I start for Philadelphia." 
Gen. Lee remained in the West for some' time after the depart- 
ure of the main body of the army, and on the 29th of November 
issued his proclamation of general amnesty from his headquar- 
ters at Elizabeth, thirty-three persons, whom he names, being 
excepted. 



The Whisky Insurrection 39 

In the disposal of the sokiiers after their arrival in the 
\Vest, it has been noted that the right wing halted on the east 
side of the Youghiogheny. A considerable portion of these sol- 
diers would seem not to have crossed that stream later. The 
New Jersey troops and part of those of Pennsylvania are 
known to have been in "Washington county, but it appears that; 
part of the Pennsylvania soldiers proceeded on to Pittsburg. 
The diary of William Michael, a hatter, of Lancaster, Pa., has 
been preserved. It tells of the soldiers going into camp about 
a mile from Budd's Perry, where they remained until ordered 
to move on to Pittsburg. They marched east of the Youghio- 
gheny, crossing Big Sewickley creek and proceeding to Pitts- 
burg, where they went in camp on the Allegheny river, five 
miles from the town. 

]\Iost of the left wing of the army passed over into Wash- 
ington county. Some of them went directly from Uniontown 
there. A letter from Hamilton to Washington, under date jf 
Nov. 2, says: "Morgan with his command, including the whole 
(^f the Light Corps and perhaps part of the brigade of cavalry, 
will go into Washington county. It is not unlikely that a part 
of the troops will take a circuit by Pittsburg, for the more 
places they can appear in, without loss of time, the better. The 
quiescent state of the country renders the plan entirely saf ^, 
Boats, however, will be called on both waters to facilitate mu- 
tual communication and support." 

VARIOUS PLACES OCCUPIED. 

General Lee's general orders, issued on the 9th of Novera- 
her. tell of movements of the portion of the army left east of 
Hk' JMonongahela, as follows: 

"Arother month's pay being daily expected, the army will be mus 

tered on the next ground, the right wing by Colonel and 

the left by Major Pryor. The army will be ready to move towards 
Pittsburg in the following manner: The New Jersey Line, with Gover- 
nor How^ell, will immediately march to Brooks's, the- cavalry to cross 
the river, oije division, consisting of two hundred, to be sent to Wash 
ingtpn town, to join the Light Corps, and the ether division to be posted 
on the west side of the Youghiogbeny, opposite the infantry camp. 
Four pieces of artillery will be annexed to this corps, and march with 
General Howell; INFajor General Irvine, with Chambers' brigade, one 
?q'iadron of Pennsylvania cavalry and two three-pounders from the 



40 The Whisky Insurrection 

park. The right column will advance on the 10th, at the hour of 8 n 
the morning. On the next day, at the same hour, his excellency, Gov- 
ernor Miffl'n, will follow with Proctor's and Murray's brigade. The 
residue of the Pennsylvania cavalry and the park of artillery, and on 
the following day the New Jersey Line, under Howell, will march to 
the s'ame place. Governor Mifflin will please to attach this evening or 
early in the morning, four six-pounders and two three pounders to 
Parkinson's Perry, to join Brii^adier General Matthews, who will move 
immediately to that place, and proceed early in the morning to Bent- 
ley's farm, on the west side of the Monongahela. He will pass the 
river at Parkinson's Ferry. The Maryland Line will move on the 11th, 
at the usual hour, to most convenient ground near Perry's Perry, while 
General Smith will march the artillery of the left column on the present 
ground, and a squadron of the Virginia dragoons. Major Lewis, with 
the squadron now with him, will cross the Monongahela at the next 
convenient ferry near him, and join Gen. Matthews tomorrow evening 
at Bentley's farm, below Parkinson's. The particular routes and stages 
will be communicated by letter to the different Generals. Captain 
Dick's squadron of dragoons will continue at Burnsville and receive or- 
ders from the commander-in-chief." 

It is evident that a considerable portion of the army nev'.^r 
got to Pittsburg. All efforts to identity the locations of 
Brooks.'s and Burnsville, mentioned in the foregoing orders, 
have been unavailing. The Bentley farm was at the mouth ^f 
Mingo creek, about two miles below Parkinson's Ferry, and 
Perry's Ferry was two miles up the Monongahela from Eliza- 
beth, about where old Lock No. 3 was located. The camps at 
both of these places were in existence and commanded by the 
same officers when the order was issued by Gen. Lee for the 
return march of the main army, and the soldiers who were en- 
camped at "Washington marched directly to Uniontown. This 
order, issued at Pittsburg on the 17th of November, directed 
that this march should be in the following order: The Penn- 
sylvania artillery, Major General Irvine's and Proctor's bri- 
gade by the old Pennsylvania road, Tuesday. The next day 
the New Jersey Line by the same route to Bedford, and theii 
by what route was found most convenient by Governor Howell. 
The following day the residue of the Pennsylvania Line, under 
Brig. Gen. Chambers. Brig. Gen. Smith, with the Maryland 
Line, to Uniontown, thence by Braddock's road to Fort Cum- 
berland, and by the most convenient routes from there. Brig. 
Gen. Matthews on Wednesday to Morgantown, thence to "Win- 



The "Whisky Insurrection 41 

Chester, by way of Frankfort, with the Virginia troops. "As 
soon as the public service will permit afterwards, the Elite 
Corps, under Gen. Dark, will follow the same route." 

Concerning the force under Gen. Daniel Morgan, Mdiich 
was encamped at Washington all the time the main army whs 
ill the West, Boyd Crumrine, Esq., president of the Washing- 
ton County Historical Society, says: "Tradition, which in this 
matter is satisfactory to me, says that the detachment of the 
United States forces which came to Washington, encamped in 
the college campus, resulting in the cutting and burning )L' 
many of the forest trees still in the campus. The only college 
building then in the campus was the old stone building now ii) 
the center of the old college, behind the Thompson library 
building. That old original building was made of dressed lime- 
stone, and was built in 1793, the year preceding the coming of 
the soldiers. I am not sure that Harry Lee came with them ; 
but it ba^. been handed down that the officers of the detach- 
ment had their headquarters in an old two-story frame hoir^e 
on the west side of ]^Iain street, on the second lot from Cherry 
alley, \Thich bonuds the court house lot, and that the United 
States flag floated from that building during the winter of 
1794, or part of it. The frame house referred to was occupied 
by the father of John Slater at the beginning of the Civil War, 
but it has been replaced by a brick building." 

It is very certain that Gen. Lee did not go with the soldiers 
when they went to Washington, and it cannot be learned that 
he was there at all. It is certain, however, that Secretary 
Hamilton was there. He wrote a letter which was da+ed at the 
"Town of Washington, Nov. 15," to the President, in which he 
mentioned the names of a number of those prominent in the 
Insurrection, then in custody. He evidently went by way of 
Washington to Pittsburg, for he wrote from the latter place 
two days later. Gen. Lee was in Pittsburg at the same time and 
wrote on the same date, so he may have accompanied Hamilton 
in his round-about course tc Pittsburg by way of Washington. 

SOLDIER'S INTERESTING DIARY. 

The diary of Major Spear, who was an officer under Mor- 
gan, now preserved in manuscript in the library of the Penn- 



42 The Whisky Insurrection 

sylvania Historical Society at Philadelphia, gives S3rae inter- 
esting facts concerning the "Washington encampment, with 
sidelights on the doings of the time. Some extracts from it 
follow, beginning with the time of leaving Uniontown : 

Nov, 5, Wednesday. Orders to march to Catfish, otherwise called 
Washington town. Crossed Redstone creek. Saw there a hollow tree 
that would hold about twelve men. Then we marched through Wash- 
ington's valley, lyim^ in the woods, without tents. Distance, nineteen 
miles. 

6, Thursday. Marched three or four hours. Halted two hours, the 
general officers being at a loss which road to take. Pioneers .sent for- 
ward to make a new road through the woods. Marched about two 
miles and within about five miles of Parkinson's Ferry. Encamped in 
the woods. Distance, about six miles this day. 

7, Friday. Marched by daybreak from thence, leaving the artillery 
and Generals Smith and Matthews' brigades. Crossed Carson's ferry on 
the Monongahela in boats. Saw two Kentucky boats with families on 
board, going down the river. Crossed Pigeon creek about twelve times. 
At Bogg's (say near McAllister's tavern, the sign of the Black Horse) 
we were without tents. Distance, fifteen miles. 

8, Saturday. Marched into Catfish Camp, otherwise called Wash- 
ington town. Encamped in the woods, a few paces from the road. This 
pl'ace the principal seat of the insurgents, and the residence of Brad- 
ford. Distance, about fifteen miles. 

9, Sunday. Divine service held in the court house by the Rev. Mr. 
C. Welsh, who delivered a well adapted discourse from the words, 
"Fight the good fight of faith," I Tim. VI: 12. Capt. Machinheimer's 
company marched in uniform and part of the battalion attended. This' 
day arrived part of the Pennsylvania Light Troops, commanded by Gen. 
Frelinghuysen, consisting of riflemen and infantry, two pieces of artil- 
lery and horse, one company of regular infantry and one company of 
horse. 

10, 11. Nothing remarkable. 

12, Wednesday. Punishment inflicted on a Virginia soldier— thirty- 
nine lashes and drummed out of camp, for stealing a check. 

13, Thursday. This day plenty of fowls and pork. Fowls, 6d per 
pair; pork, 3d; flour, 2d; butter, 9d. Commissary out of flour. Double 
rations of liquor allowed. 

14, iFriday. Snow, Some flour today. The judge proceeded to ex- 
amine the insurgents brought in by the horsemen. Horsemen still out 
in quest of the insurgents, who are brought in daily. 

15, 16. Snow. 15th, orders to march to Fort Pitt. 16, counter- 
manded, and ordered to march to Muddy creek. Seventy insurgents in 
the provost guard, forty-nine of them having been brought in at one 
time, on the 15th. 



The Whisky IiTsv.rreclion 43 

17. Marched 16 miles towards Unlontown. Lodged in housts it 
Capt. Bell's. 

18. From thence to Uniontown, and crossed tlie J^.Iorongahela at 
Redstone Old Fort. Bad roads. 

19. Arrived at Uniontown and billeted in hovses. and a party nf 
Capt. M-achinheimer's company, consisting of tv.'elve men, attended the 
funeral of Lieut. Robert Jones, belonging to Col. Hunter's regiment, 
Ottoway county, Viiiginia. We buried him with the honors of war. 

20. Rainy. (Here the diary ends abruptly.) 

A diligent effort has been made to locate Carson's ferry, 
mentioned in the foregoing extracts. The surmise of Dr. J. S. 
Van Voorhis of Belle Vernon, that Castner's ferry was meant, 
seems most probable. He says: ''Its location is still remem- 
Itered. It was just above the [present] trwn of Webs' er and 
just below [the site of] Donora, better known as Columbia. 11 
was a ferry as early as 1786, and the Pittsburg Gazette wms 
carried by flatboat and distributed among its su'iscribers along 
the river as far as Castner's ferry, as noted in No. HI of the 
same paper, in September, 1786. That ferry was older than 
Parkinson's." 

ALLEGED BRUTALITY OF SOLDIERS. 

Some accounts of tbe arrests of insurgents made by tbe 
soldiers dwell en the alleged brutality displayed, but in the 
main these seem to be greatly overdrawn, so far as they re- 
late to the conduct in general. Where there was a disposition 
to exhibit such a spiri^, proper restraint was compelled by tho 
officers. But an exception to this seems to have been the case 
in the northeastern section of Washington county and just over 
the line in Allegheny county, Avhich was the main center of 
the insurrectionary spirit. The New Jersey troops were 
charged Avith the rounding up of fugitives in that vsection, ilnd 
tbey were smarting under epithets applied to them by insur- 
gents, many of whom resided in that quarter. On the night of 
the 13th of November^ and early on the morning of the 14th, 
when there was a concerted move all through the scenes of the 
lately ended Insurrection, they displayed great brutality to- 
wards those whom they apprehended, and seem, to have been 
urged oil by their commander, General White. This is record- 
ed by both of the contemporaneous historians, and without 



44 The Whisky Insurrection 

doubt it lost nothing in the telling. Eev. Dr. Carnal an, who 
wrote long" afterwards, from his own personal recollections, 
confirms the general fact, bnt testifies that in the main the 
conduct of the soldiers was exemplary. 

An address issued by General Smith to the officers and 
soldiers of the Maryland brigade in camp on the Monongahela, 
above Elizabeth, and within a few miles of the scene of the 
events above referred to, is most interesting in this connection, 
especially since it is dated on the day following this general 
movement of arrest. It also is preserved in manuscript in the 
library of the Pennsylvania Historical Society. It is addressed 
to his command as "Fellow Citizens in Arms", and is as fol- 
lows : 

"It is with pleasure that I congratulate you on the order to return 
to your own homes, after having performed the most sacred of all du- 
ties, that of having contributed to the support of our free and excellent 
aovernment, and its laws, a duty which you have performed in a most 
severe and inclement season, and over the most mountainous and rug- 
ged part of America, with a fortitude and patience that does honor o 
yourselves and your country. You have assisted to convince the world 
that the free men of free republics can and will support their constitu- 
tion, and that altho' a few may be deluded into errors by designing and 
ambitious men, yet that the great body of the people of America are 
lovers of order and are ready to risk their lives to prevent anarchy and 
confusion. Permit me to acknowledi^e personal obligations to you for 
the order and discipline that have reigned in the ranks, and for the able 
assistance I have received from the infinite attention to their duty that 
has been conspicuous among the officers. It is with the highest satis- 
faction that I can assert that you have literally obeyed the injunctions 
of our beloved President, that going to enforce the laws, you have 
carefully avoided the infraction of any. You will each of you return 
to your respective counties with considerable military information 
(which you will diffuse among our fellow citizens) strongly impressed 
with the necessity of an efficient and well organized militia." 

CONTINGENT OF SOLDIERS LEFT. 
Very early after the arrival of Gen. Lee and his army, two 
things became apparent : First, that there was no need for 
such a large force remaining in the western country; and, 
secondly, that it would not be prudent to withdraw all of the 
soldiers at once. So it w^as decided to leave a force of 1,500 
men, to remain after the main army had departed. Gen. Daniel 
Morgan was appointed to command this force, and it was ac- 



The Whisky Insurrection 45 

ranged that it should be constituted by volunteer enlistment 
for nine months, unless sooner discharged, and to be made up 
of one regiment of infantry, consisting of ten companies (one 
of these to be a rifle company), four troops of cavalry and one 
troop of artillery. Arrangements were made for allowing en- 
listment from all the commands represented in the army, 'io 
that all should have opportunity of participating in proper 
proportion. Some things in the correspondence of the time in- 
dicates that there was difficulty in making up the quota, and 
that the force was recruited up to the number desired by allow- 
ing the enlistment of some residents of the neighborhood. 

This force had its main encamptment during the winter o\ 
1794-5 on the west side of the Monongahela, two miles south of 
Elizabeth, on the same place where the Maryland troops, un- 
der Gen. Smith, had been encamped, as already noted. There 
they built huts for their winter cantonment, but there were de- 
taehmeiT^shept at the same time at Washington and at Pitts- 
buro". and for a time a detachment of the cavalry was encamped 
In the vicinity of Ginger Hill, in Washington county. Some of 
the histories say the main encampment was at the mouth of 
Mingo creek, but that error doubtless grew from the fact, men- 
tioned in some of the papers relating to the subject, that it was 
on the Ben+ley farm. A Bentley farm did exist at the mouth of 
]\Iingo creek and was the scene of encampment of a consider- 
able force of the main army a little earlier, as has been seen, 
but the land titles of the vicinity show that the farm at the 
mouth of Lobb's run was also owned at that time by persons 
named Bentley. 

At this place was the ferry sometimes called Perry's and 
sometimes IMcFarlane's. the Perrys owning the ground on the 
east side of the Monongahela and the McFarlanes on the west 
side, just above the Bentley place. This is well established, and 
the ferry was a well known one from a very early period. Gen. 
iMorgan issued a proclamation dated " Bentley 's Farm, Nov. 
30." In December of the same year he wrote a letter to 
President Washington, which has been preserved, dated at 
*']\IcFarland's Ferry," and another letter from the same place 
April 9, 1795. Persons yet living have had it from the lips of 
those who remembered the encampment of Morgan's soldiers 



46 The Whisky Insurrection 

on the Bentley farm, at the mouth of Lobb's run. ]\Iany intoi'- 
esting relics of the encampment have been gathered on the 
ground there. Its exact k:)cation is at Florefife on the AEononga- 
hela division of the Pennsylvania railroad. 

One gruesome memorial of the encampment exists in :i 
group of graves in the oldest corner of the old Lobb burying 
ground, near by. Smallpox broke ovit among the soldiers while 
they were encamped there, and a number of them died. ]Most 
of these graves are marked by simple rough stones, without in- 
scriptions, but two of them have been given more care, doubt- 
less by the friends in the homes left by the two young officers 
when they came with the army. The headstones, s^ill in a good 
state of preservation, show these two to have been Captain 
Thomas Walker, of Albemarle county, Virginia, who died Ja)i. 
16, 1795, aged 20 years, aiid Lieutenant Alexander Beall. .>t:" 
Berkeley county, Virginia, who died Jan. 11, 1795, 'a^ged 20 
years. • 

Morgan's army remained in the West until the spring of 
1795, and was then disbanded, the occasion for its continuani-e 
having ceased to exist, the country being thoroughly pacified. 
The letter of Gen. Morgan to President Washington, writtea 
soon after the establishment of his camp on the Monongahela, 
is interesting enough to reproduce here. He writes : 

"The business of recruiting was put off too late. Had it been put in 
practice a week sooner, we could have engaged the number of men 
called for without difficulty. The pay will be an obstacle, and the 
clothing is not a sufficient inducement, or the people here don't like 
to wear that kind of clothing. Any number of cavalry could be raised 
here, but my opinion is that a great n-ciny more will be tmnecessary for 
this service, as the al-^rm t'-'at th'^'^e people have experienced is so 
great that they will never forget it, so far as to fly in the face of the 
law again. I am dealing very gently with them, and am becoming very 
popular, for which I am very happy. The names of those who have 
surrendered themselves to me are Arthur Gardner, George Parker, 
Ebenezer Gollohan (who broke out of jail at Pittsburg), John Golcraft 
(who broke away from the guard, coming up the river) and .John 
:\Iitchell, who robbed the mail. John Golcraft, who gave himself up to 
me, is the old Tinker himself, not he that broke from the guard, coming 
up the river. Benjamin Parkinson and Dan Hamilton will be in tomor- 
row — at least they have so informed me." 



■ The Whisky Insurrection 47 

VARIOUS RACES INVOLVED. 

It has come to be regarded as an accepted fact that the 
Scotch-Irish were ahnost wholly responsible for the Insurrection 
The later histories of the struggle assume it, and one popular 
work, written with the doings of those times as its chief motive?, 
^specially emphasizes this idea. It is true that there were many 
of the Scotch-Irish people in the western country at that time, 
and some whole neighborhoods were largely peopled with them 
It is true also that many of them were active in the opposition 
to the government. But a careful examination of all the orig- 
inal sources of information accessible does not seem to warrant 
the crediting of these people with the whole opposition nor 
v-\*-h the large share of the responsibility usually assigned to 
t! em. 

These western counties filled up rapidly after the Revolu- 
tion, and the population was a cosmopolitan one. Virginia and 
\arious sections of the East furnished great numbers, and 
many of these were born Americans, with several generations 
l^efore them native to the soil. The various divisions of Great 
Britain contributed their quotas, and there was a considerable 
representation of Germans. Findley, in his history of the In- 
surrection, makes an incidental reference to the Germans who 
were engaged in the opposition to the excise laws, and in such 
terms as to leave the impression that they were here in consid- 
erable numbers and an element to be dealt with as an import- 
ant consideration. There were various Quaker settlements also, 
h\it these people did not become involved, because of their 
policy of peace. 

Among those who took a most prominent part in the mov.^ 
ment of opposition to the excise, in the early stages, and some 
of whom continued their opposition to the end, were the fol- 
lowing: John Hollcroft, an Englishman; Albert Gallatin, h 
SAviss; Rev. David Phillips, a Welshman; Benjamin Parkinson, 
a native of Pennsylvania ; Rev. Herman Husbands, a German ; 
David Bradford, a native of Maryland; Col. John Canon, sup- 
posed to be a native Virginian ; Edward Cook, a native of Penn- 
sylvania ; and many others of these and other nationalities, be- 
sides, of course, a goodly number who wtre born in the north 
■of Ireland. The list of names of those who were excepted from 



^g The Whisky Insurrection 

the proclamation of amnesty and that of the men who were 

taken to Philadelphia for trial, as leaders in the excesses, d> 

not show an overwhelming preponderance of Scotch and Irish 

names, as might be thought, in view of the generally existing- 

belief. 

SOME PROMINENT PARTfCrPANTS. 

There is material for a whole paper of the compass of this 
in interesting facts concerning many of the men who were 
prominently engaged in this early struggle — their characteris- 
tics, their antecedents, their homes and their environments. 
But only a few of these can be even mentioned, and that very 
briefly. 

Col. Edward Cook, who presided at nearly all of the de- 
liberative meetings of those who opposed the excise, first and 
last, was one of the most prominent men in the western coun- 
try at that time. He was an adherent of the Penns in the 
controversy between Pennsylvania and Virginia as to posses- 
sion of southwestern Pennsylvania, and for a number of years 
held the then important position of County Lieutenant uf 
Westmoreland county, which then comprised much of the re- 
gion. He owned a plantation of 3,000 acres between the Mon- 
ongahela and Youghiogheny rivers, and in 1772 built the first 
stone mansion in that region, which was so well built that it 
still stands and is habitable. He was a large owner of slaves, 
and with their labor carried on. extensive agricultural opera- 
tions. He laid out the town of Fayette City, which at first was 
called Cookstown. 

Gen. John Neville, about whose head raged the storm of 
opposition to the government, because he was its most promi- 
nent representative in the attempt to enforce the excise law, 
was also a leading man of the region. He was a native of Vir- 
ginia and served with distinction and honor as an officer of the 
patriot army in the Revolution. He had served in the Penn- 
sylvania Legislature and in other offices of honor and trust, 
and was highly popular among his fellow citizens until he ac- 
cepted his commission as Inspector of Revenue. Then he he-. 
came bitterly hated. He also was a very wealthy man for the 
time. Secretary Hamilton estimated his loss in the destruction 
of his buildings and their contents at about $15,000. His soa, 



The Whisky Insurrection 49 

Col. Pressly Neville, lived across the creek from the parental 
mansion, in a house still standing in the outskirts of "Woodville, 
and known as the Wrenshall house. The mansion on the hill 
v^^as never rebuilt. Gen. Neville soon after that retired from 
active life and spent the remainder of his days on Montour's 
Island in the Ohio river, dying there early in the last century. 
The island later took his name, which it bears today, the only 
insular township in Allegheny county and probably in Penn- 
sylvania. 

John Ilollcroft was a native of Lancashire, England, and 
was a prosperous farmer and distiller, who lived in Washington 
county, near the Allegheny county line, between the present 
towns of Finleyville and West Elizabeth. He was a man of 
consequence among his neighbors, and filled various local of- 
fices. He is knoM'n to have led the party which made the first 
attack on the house of Gen. Neville, in a demand for the sur- 
render of his commission. It is not recorded that he was pres- 
ent on the foUoAving day when the house was destroyed, 
neither has anyone attempted to establish an alibi for him. His 
son Richard Avas charged at the time with having applied the 
brand to the Neville barn, from which the fire communicated to 
other buildings and finally to the dwelling house. John HoU- 
eroft was very generally regarded at the time as the original 
*'Tom the Tinker." This is brought out in Gen. Morgan's let- 
ter, already quoted, (though he does not get the name quite 
right.) Secretary Hamilton, in one of his letters to President 
Washin<?ton, written while he was in the West, says: "Gen. 
Lee just informs me that he has received a letter from Marietta, 
informing him of the apprehension of John Holcroft, the re- 
puted 'Tom the Tinker,' and one Wright, a notorious offend- 
er." Denial was made, following the Insurrection, of his use 
of this designation, but his descendants of later generations 
have inclined to the belief that there was something in it. He 
left a numerous progeny, having been married twice and having 
ten children by each marriage. The log house in which he 
lived stood until recent years. 

The McFarlane brothers, Andrew and James, were well 
known and prosperous men of the time. Of Scotch descent, but 
born in County Tyrone, Ireland, they engaged in trade M'ith the 



50 The Whisky Insurrection 

Indians soon after coming to the vicinity of Pittsburg-. An- 
drew had a most interesting and even thrilling history. He was 
an adherent of the Penns, made a justice of the peace by the 
proprietary government, and was most vigorous in upholding 
their interests. In the clash of authority between Pennsylvania 
and Virginia over the possession of the territory about Pi ts- 
burg, he and two others were captured and taken to Staunton 
Va., to answer for their opposition to Virginia's authority. 
After being held there a short time he was released and al- 
lowed to return to Pittsburg; but he had become the victim of f. 
second capture while there, and in a short time went back to 
Staunton, whence he bore away as his bride a niece of Gen. 
Andrew Lewis, the hero of the battle of Point Pleasant. During 
the Revolution he was engaged in the commissary service for 
the patriot cause, and in February, 1777, was captured by a, 
band of Indians, who were emissaries of the British, and taken 
to Canada, the object being to get some information from hira 
as to the situation at and about Fort Pitt. He was held as a 
prisoner for more than three years, his family knowing nothing 
of his whereabouts for most of the time, but finally, through the 
intervention of his brother, who was an officer in the army, un- 
der Washington, he was exchanged. The accounts seem to 
agree that his influence was thrown for the preservation of 
peace and of property during the AVhisky Insurrection, and 
that he took no active part in it. 

His brother, James McFarlane, was a bachelor and owned 
land in various parts of AVashington county, but seems to 
have made his home for the most part, with Andrew, whose 
house stood (and still stands) on the bank of the Mononga- 
hela, at what was McFarlane 's Ferry between the present 
Floreffe and Elrama stations on the Monongahela division of 
the Pennsylvania railroad. The house is just within the limits 
of Allegheny county, the farm being partly in Allegheny and 
partly in Washington county. There the dead body of James 
was brought on the night of the burning of Gen. Neville's 
house, and was borne thence to the burying ground at Mingo 
church on the following day. James McFarlane served as a 
lieutenant in the First regiment of the Pennsylvania Line ai 
the Revolution, and was a major of militia, in Col. John Hamil- 



The Whisky Insurrection '51 

ton's regiment, when he met his death. He was heki in very 
high regard by the people of his time. He accepted command 
of the force on the fatal day very reluctantly, and expressed 
the opinion on the way that it was an unwise proceeding. His 
companions in arms declared afterwards that his death w^;is 
brought about by treachery, and they put the blame of it on 
Major Abraham Kirkpatrick, brother-in-law of Gen. Nevilb?, 
Avho was in charge of the soldiers within the building at the 
time. A large stone slab over McFarlane's grave in Mingo 
cemetery bears the following inscription, now nearly illegible : 

"Here lies the body of Capt. James McFarlane, of Washington 
county, Pa., who departed this life on the 17th of July, 1794, aged 43 
years. He served during the war with undaunted courage in defense 
of American independence, against the lawless and despotic encroach- 
ments of Great Britain. He fell at last by the hands of an unprincipled 
villain, in support of -what he supposed to be the rights of his coun- 
try, much lamented by a numerous and respectable circle. or acquaint- 
ance." 

The man who was killed in the first attack on the Neville 
house was Oliver JMiller, whose home was in the present Snow- 
den township, Allegheny county. He was one of the justices 
for Virginia and sat, with others, in the sessions of its Yoho- 
gania county court, which before and during- the Revolution, 
held its sessions in a log court house, built on a bluff, overlook- 
ing the Monongahela river and the scene of Gen. Morgan's win- 
ter-encampment, before referred to. There w^ere five others 
hurt in the same attack, but it is not known certainly that the 
injuries of any of these were fatal. Some besides McFarlane 
were wounded in the second day's fight. There are three graves 
in an old burying ground adjoining Elizabeth, which dates 
back to that time, and marked by initials only on the rough 
stones set up over them. It has long been a tradition of the 
place that these were the tombs of men who were victims of the 
bullets of Gen. Neville 's defense force in one of these attacks. 

Albert Gallatin's brilliant career is part' of the nation's his- 
tory. Of Swiss birth, he spoke English but imperfectly when 
these troubles broke out. He was successively member of the 
Pennsylvania Legislature, of both houses of Congress, Secre- 
tary of the Treasury and diplomatic representative of the gov- 



52 The Whisky Insurrection 

ernment at some of the principal European courts. He was 
an Anti-Federalist in politics, and was active in opposition to 
the excise law, but when he saw the course extremists were 
takinsr, threw all of his ^eat influence for the stopping of 
armed resistance to the government and for composing the 
differences. His fine home was at Friendship Hill, in Fayette 
county, overlooking the Monongahela, and near to the village 
of New Geneva, which he founded. His last days were lived 
in New York City. 

Alexander Hamilton was an actor in these events only .rs 
they trenched on his financial policies, and was not, like all 
of the others here mentioned, a resident of the western country. 
His notable career and untimely end are well known. 

Benjamin Parkinson lived on the main road between the 
present Monongahela City and Washington, nine miles from 
the former. He was an extensive land owner, a farmer, distiller 
and hotel keeper. He was one of the few leaders in the revolt 
who was, or at least had been until that time, a staunch Fede- 
ralist. But he was president of the society organized at Mingo 
church under the influence of the French Democratic club 
movement ; was one of the directing committee of three ui 
charge of the demonstration against Gen. Neville when his 
house was burned ; was one of those interested in the mail 
robbery plot; a signer of the call for the Braddock's Field ga- 
thering ; and was prominent in many other activities of the time 
in opposition to the excise. Like many others, he was missing 
when the army came to the west, and his name heads the list 
of those proscribed when the amnesty proclamation was 
issued. But in March 1797, he was pardoned by President 
Washington. The interesting document which proclaims this 
act of clemency is now in the possession of Joseph A. Herron 
of Monongahela. 

Col. John Canon, founder of Canonsburg, was one of the 
justices of the Yohogania county court of Virginia. He was 
in the mail robbery plot, one of the signers of the call for the 
Braddock's Field gathering and in other ways prominent h\ 
the opposition to the government. 

David Bradford was a lawyer, a resident of Washington 
and at the time of the culmination of the Insurrection was 



The Whisky Insurrection 53 

Prosecuting Attorney for the county. He came here from 
Maryland, where he had served in the Legislature. His con- 
temporaries have left record that it was only after pressure 
and even threats that he took his stand against the govern- 
ment, but when the die was east he went the whole limit. He 
was ambitious, and saw in it seeming opportunities of personaV 
advancement. He proposed secession from the Union and the 
creation of an independent state. The Braddock's Field as- 
semblage and proposed capture of the arms and equipments 
in the military post at Pittsburg were of his planning, as was 
the robbery of the mail. In the meetings in an effort to reach 
a settlement satisfactory to the commissioners of the govern- 
ment, he fought to the last ditch, but was among the first to 
sign the submission, and then, feeling that this would not save 
him, escaped down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to Louisiana, 
, where his future life M-as lived and where he became a success- 
ful planter. His house, fronting on INIain street, in Washing- 
Ion, was one of the best of its time, and is still standing. 

Col. James Marshall was another prominent mau of the 
time. At the formation of Washington county he was made 
Its County Lieutenant, an office of great honor existing at that 
time and involving chief command of the militia of the coun- 
ty. He had served also as sheriff and was at that time County 
Recorder. He was one of those who gathered for the reading 
of the letters abstracted from the mail, a signer for the call 
for the Braddock's Field assemblage and prominent in many 
■other acts in opposition to the government. 

Col. John Hamilton, commander of the Mingo regiment 
of militia, which was most active in the Insurrection, does 
uot seem to have taken any part in the excesses of the time, but 
he was one of those taken as a prisoner to Philadelphia. He 
was sheriff of Washington county. His relative, David Hamil- 
ton, a younger man, was in the plot to rob the mail, and active, 
in other ways in the Insurrection. 

, William Findley, the representative in Congress from 
Westmoreland county, is not mentioned as taking a prominent, 
part, in any of the histories of the Insurrection, except that 
he was one of the two men sent by the western people to con- 
^r with Washington in an effort to have the army turned back. 



54 The Whisky Insiirrtetion 

after its westward march had begun. But he felt called upo/i 
after the Insurrection to write his book of defense of his own 
actions and position, in which he took occasion to lampoon the 
Federal administration. lie was prominent in politics for some 
years afterwards. He was not the William Findley who be- 
came Governor of the State. 

Much has already been said of Hugh H. Brackenridge. He 
was at that time regarded as the leading member of the legal 
profession in the west. He was a graduate of Princeton, and 
his scholarship is evinced in a number of books, the product 
of his pen. He was a most eccentric man and was a bitter con- 
troversialist, as the newspaper files of his time bear record. 
During the troublous times he was often called upon for coun- 
sel, and such was his finesse that he retained the confidence of 
most of those actively engaged in opposition to the government, 
though often succeeding in turning them from an avoAved pur- 
pose. After the Insurrection he was called to account by the 
judiciary corps, accompanying the army, for some of the thine:s 
he had said and done, but cleared himself, though years af- 
terwards a bitter controversy raged over the question of what 
was his real attitude. A careful study of the whole question, 
with all the sources of information now at hand, leads to the 
conclusion that he was the friend of law and order through all 
of the trying times, and did valuable service in the composing 
of the differences. He Avas a Scotchman by birth, though he 
came to this country young with his parents. He had served 
in the Legislature before, and was active in the movement 
which resulted in the formation of Allegheny county. lie w^s 
a candidate for Congress at the time of the culmination of tre 
Insurrection, but was defeated by Albert Gallatin. Governor 
McKean appointed him a Justice of the Supreme Covirt of 
Pennsylvania in 1800, and he served in that capacity until his 
death in 1816. ' 

CONCLUSION. 

In conclusion it may be said that those who were active in 
the opposition to the government are to be judged with some 
regard to the time in which they lived and the circumstances 
surrounding them, and to shed some light on these things has 



The Whisky Insurrection 55 

been one of the objects of this paper. While the wrong of 
their action is not to be condoned, all are not to be too sever-e- 
ly condemned. As has been pointed out, men of commanding 
influence were the earliest offenders, and many followed heed- 
lessly where they led. Some of these early saw that the fire 
they had kindled could not easily be quenched or even con- 
trolled, but they gave their efforts earnestly to that end. 
Others thought they saw in it an opportunity for gratifyin.^ 
selfish ambition, and followed the course which led to rank 
treason. 

As pointed out earlier, some good came of it. One im- 
mediate result was the distribution, by payment to the soldiers, 
of more money than the western country ever saw before that 
time, and this, without doubt, had much to do with softening 
the asperites and making the people more contented with their 
lot. The Insurrection brought many new settlers into the west 
who first saw it as soldiers ; it brought about a better acquaint- 
ance and better understanding between the two sections sepa- 
rated by the mountains ; but more important than all else, it , 
established the fact that the government was strong enough 
to crush out opposition to its authority from within, and em- 
phasized that other fact which many have been slow to learn, 
even in later times — that the United States government is not 
a mere loose compact of sovereign states for convenience, to 
be dissolved at the will of any, but that it it a Nation, one and 
indissoluble. ' 



iHtDEX 



Adventurers left by Revolution, 13. 

Amnesty proclamation Issued, 38. 

Arclaives. Pennsylvania, 9 

Army for suppression— Greater than Wash- 
ington commanded at Yorktovrn. 6; call lor 
moblliylny, 30; sent irom east, 35; com- 
manded by (ien. Henry Lee. 36; principal 
officers. 3G; stoppage of progi es refused by 
Washington, 36; Secretary Hamilton ac- 
companied, 36; dlscomtorrs of passage over 
mountains, 37; movements In the west, 37; 
how dispersed, 39; order lor return march 
Of main part, 40; contingent left In west, 
45; smallpox among soldiers. 46 

Heutley farm, at mouth of Mingo creek, 40, 
45. 

I'entley farm, rear Elizabeth. 45. 

lUbliography of Fn'^U'-'ec'ion. 7. 

Bower Hill. Neville counn y home, 2'i. 

Brackenridge, Hugh H , w o*e tii'st book on 
Insurrection, 8; feud with Nevllle-Cralg 
families. 8: counselled against warlike dec- 
laration, 25; at Parkinson's Ferry meetlf^g, 
•^; at Brownsville meeting, 33; performed 
valuable service. 54; sketch of, 54. 

Brackenridge, H. M., author. 9. 

Braddock's Field— Assemblage called there, 
23; Pittsburg delegation to, 27. 

Bradford, David— Took leading part at Min- 
go church meeting, 25; ambitious, but weak 
and vacillating, 25; at zenith of his popu- 
larity, 27; declared for war, 28; declared 
for creation of independent state, 31. 33, 53; 
sketch of, 47, 52; proposed secession, 53; es- 
caped down the Ohio river, 53. 

Brownsville meeting, 82. 

Brutality of soldiers alleged, 43, 44. 

Canon, John, sketch of, 47, .51. 

Carnahan, Dr. James— Educator and author, 

9; quotation from, 44. 
Carnegie Library at Pittsburg, literature of 

Insurrection, 10. 



Carson's Ferry, 42. 

Castner'd Ferry, 43. 

Causes of outbreak, 7. 

Character of Inhabitants, 13. 

Collectors of excise— Intensely hated, 16; 
resolutions against, 16; mobbed, 17. 

Commission of Insurgents sought to stay ad- 
vance of army, 36. 

Commissioners of government— Appointed, 
30; refused concessions asked, 34. 

Conclusion, 54. 

Conditions likened to those against which 
people fought In the Revolution, 21. 

Congress— Passed excise law, 11; modified 
the law, 20, 

Contingent of army left In west, 45. 

Contributory Influences, 10. 

Cook, Col. Edward— Active In early moves 
against excise law, 17; at Parkinson's Fer- 
ry meeting, 25; sketch of, 47, 48. 

Cost of suppressing Insurrection, 6. 

Couch's Fort, rendezvous of insurgents, 22. 

Craig, Neville B., author, 8. 

•^reigh's History of Washington County, 9. 

C umrine, Boyd, quoted, 41. 

Crumrlnie's History of Washington County, 9. 

Crushing out Insurrection gave added pres- 
tige to nation, 7, 55. 

Debt left by Revolution, il. 
Democratic societies, 18. 
Discomfort of army In the mountains, 37. 
Distilleries, many of them, 16. 

Earlier secession sentiment, 14. 

Early accounts— Naturally biassed, 8; color- 
ed subsequent historical statement, 8. 

Edgar, James, advocated submission, 33. 

Elizabeth, Gen. Lee's amnesty proclamation 
issued from, 36. 

European powers Interested, 6. 

Evidence against offenders, hard to get, 38. 

Excise act of state repealed. 12. 

Excise act— Passed by Congress. 11; predju- 



57 



INDEX 



dice against It, 11: always unpopular In 
Pennsylvania, 12; actively opposed, 16; 
prominent men In opposition, 16; collectors 
cordially hated, 16; modified by (Congress, 
20. 

Feud In Brackenrldge-Neville-Cralg fami- 
lies. 8. 

Flndley, William— Wrote history of Insur- 
rection, 8; opposed administration meas- 
ures, 10; history quoted, 47; sketch of, 53. 

Foreign influence, Vi. 

Foreword, 3. 

Fort Payette, plan to attack and despoil, '^6. 

Fourth Survey of Pennsylvania— How com- 
posed, 8; population, 15. 

b rench Revolution made impression, 12. 

Gallatin, Albert— Protested against excise 
law, 17; advocated submission to law, 28; 
at Brownsville meeting, 33; sketch of, 47, 51. 

Gazette, Pittsburg, 19, 43. 

General conditions, 11. 

Genet, French Minister— Embarrassed ad- 
ministration, 12; recalled, 13. 

Good results, 7, 55. 

government script depreciated, li. 

Government's requirements of Insurgents, 
31. 

Hamilton, Alexander— Wrote account of In- 
surrection, 9; as Secretary of Treasury, 
helped to shape Washington's policies, 10; 
accompanied army west, 36; quotation 
from letter, 49; reference to, 52 

Hamilton, Daniel, a leader, 46, 53. 

Hamilton, Col. John, not an active partici- 
pant, 53. 

Herron, Joseph A. has Benjamin Parkin- 
son's pardon, 52. 

HoUcroft, John— Led first expedition against 
Neville house, 82; alleged "Tom th« Tink- 
er," 46, 49; Sketch of, 47, 49. 

Howell, Governor, commanded New Jersey 
troops, 36, 

Husbands, Rev. Herman, 47. 

''Incidents of the Western Insurrection," 
first history of the events, 8. 

Independent state declared for, 31. 

Insurgent leaders disappeared, 37. 

Insurgents taken to Philadelphia for trial, 
38. 

Insurrection— Figures as a minor episode In 
the ceneral histories, 5; a menace to the 
nation's existence, 6; cost of its suppress- 
ion, 6; first serious revolt against the Unlt;- 
ed States government, 7; bibliography, 7; 



crushing out gave prestige to nation, 7, 55 
Introductory, 5. 
Irvine-Washington correspondence, 14. 

Journal of Majo r Spear. 

Klrkpatrlck, Major Abraham— t'ommaoded 
defense force at Neville house, 22; barn 
burned, 28; charged with treacherously 
causing James McFarlane's death, 51. 

Leaders disappeared on approach of army, 
37. 

Leading men the prime movers in the oppo- 
sition to excise law at the first, 17. 

Lee, Gen, Henry, Governor of Virginia— Com- 
manded the army sent into the disaffected 
region, 31; issued proclamation on reaching 
Unlontown, 36; Issued amnesty proclama- 
tion at Elizabeth, 38. 

Lenox, Major, United States marshal— serv- 
warrants on oEfenders, 21; escaped down 
Ohio river, 24. 

Liberty poles, 20, 29. 3 •. 

Mail robbery, 25. 

Marshall, James— Participated in the Mingo 
church meeting, 25; at Parkinson's Ferry 
meeting, 28; sketch of, .53. 

Mifllln, Governor, commanded Pennsylvania 
troops, 36. 

Miller, Oliver, killed— sketch of, 22, 51 

Mmgo Presbyterian church— First expedi- 
tion against Gen. Neville's house started 
from, 21; meeting place of Insurgents, 24. 

Moravian Indian massacre, 13. 

Morgan, Gen. Daniel- Commanded Virginia 
troops, 36; commanded contingent of army 
left lu west, 44; place of winter encamp- 
ment, 45, 

McFarlane, Andrew, sketch of, 5(). 
McFarlane, Major James— Led second attack 

on Neville house, 22; killed during attack, 

23; sketch of, 50. 
McFarlane's Ferry, 45. 

NevUIe, Gen. John— Inspector of Excise in 
Fourth Survey of Pennsylvania, 8, 20; at- 
tack on home, 21; second attack on house, 
22; property destroyed, 23; escaped down 
Ohio river, 24; rettirned with army, 36; 
sketch of, 48. 

Neville, Col. Pressly, son of Inspector, 23, 36, 
49. 

New Jersey militia— Ridiculed, 31; took ven- 
geance, 43. 

Not all were disloyal, 19. 



58 



INDEX 



Parkinson, Benjamin— President ol Mingo 
Democratic Society, 23; sought by sol- 
diers, 46; pardon still preserved, 52; sketch 
Of, 52. 

Parkinson's Ferry— Place of great delegate 
meeting, 28; second meeting, 36. 

Pennsylvania Historical Society at Phila- 
delphia, literatm-e ol Insurrection In libra- 
ry, 10. 

Pennsylvania State Archives— Volume de- 
voted to Insurrection, 9; data ol, 42, 44. 

Pennsylvania State excise law repealed, 12. 

Pennsylvania- V^lrglnia boundary controver- 
sy, 14. 

Perry's Ferry, 40, 45. 

Persecution of those who coranlied with the 
law, 17. 

Peters, Judge, with the army, 37. 

Phillips, Rev. David, 47. 

Pittsburg Gazette— Involuntary organ of In- 
surgents, 19; distributed by boat, 43. 

Pittsburg people - Gained enmity of insur- 
gents, 27; force marched there from Brad- 
dock's Field, 27. 

Place of encampment, Morgan's contingent 
of army, 45. 

Politics had to do with revolt, lO. 

Prestige added to nation by crushing out In- 
surrection, 23. 

Prominent v en led opposition, 16, 48. 

Property of excise collectors destroyed, 17. 

Quakers not involved,"47. 

Rawle, United States District attorney, 
with army, 37 

Reign of terror, 18. 

Resolutions at Parkinson's Ferry meeting, 
30. 

ResoliUlons against collectors, 16. 

Revolution, hardship of western people, 14. 

Ross, James commissioner of the govern- 
ment, 30. 



Scotch-Irish— prejudice against excise, 11; 

not the whole opposition, 11, 47. 
Scull, John, editor Pittsburg Gazette, 19. 
Secession declared for, 32. 
Secession sentiment earlier, 14. 
Second attack on Neville house, 22. 
Secret societies, 13, 18. 
Smallpox among soldiers in winter encamp^ 

ment, 46. 
Smith, Gen., commander of Maryland troops, 

36. 
Soldier's Interesting diary, 41. 
Soldiers left In west, 44. 
Spark to the tinder, 21. 
Spear, Major, diary, 41. 
Spirits a medium of exchange, 15. 
State sovereignty versus Federalism, 7. 

"Tom the Tinker," 19, 31, 37, 46, 49. 

Unlontown, proclamation of Gen. Lee issued 
from. 36. 

"Van Voorhls, Dr. J. S., quoted, 43. 

Various races involved, 47. 

Virginia-Pennsylvania boundary controver- 
sy, 14. 

Vote of committee lor and against submis- 
sion, 33. 

Vote of people on submission, 35. 

Washington, Pa„ encampment of soldiers, 
41, 42. 

Washington, President— Recognized great 
peril, 6; sought to compose differences 
without resort to force, 6; proclamation 
against treason, 29; issued call for mobiliza- 
tion of army, 30; appointed commission to 
try to avert necessity of sending army, 30; 
refused to stay army's march, 36. 

Whisky— Its general use, 15; used in place of 
money, 15. 

W Uliamson, David, leader of force that mas- 
sacred Moravian Indians, 14. 



59 



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